OSSttS 


WASHINGTON 


AND 


LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 


the  Class  of  1901 


founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 
HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


7 


\f\  0-0-v^,     2_,  -0-^  -VX*  C^tX-< 

.    / 


General  Editor:  LINDSAY  TODD  DAMON,  A.  B.,  Professor 
of  English  Literature  and  Rhetoric  in  Brown  University 


ADDISON—  The  Sir  Roger  De  Coverley  Papers— ABBOTT SOc 

BROWNING— Selected  Poems— REYNOLDS 4Oc 

BUN Y AN— The  Pilgrim's  Progress— LATHAM SOc 

BURKE— Speech  on  Conciliation  with  America— DENNEY )85c 

CARL YLE— Essay  on  Burns— AlTON 25c 

CHAUCER— Seiec/ions— GBEENLAW 4Oc 

COOPER— tost  of  the  Mohicans— LEWIS 4Oc 

COLERIDGE— The  Ancient  Mariner.  )  .      .      «___.,.  «,*„ 

LOWELL- VisionofSir  Launfal,        flvol.-MOODY 25c 

DE  QUINCE \-Joan  of  Arc  and  Selections— MOODY 5J5c 

DE  QUINCE Y—The  Flight  of  a  Tartar  Tribe— FBENCH 25c 

DICKENS— A  Christmas  Carol,  etc.— BEOADU8 SOc 

DICKENS— A  Tale  of  Two  Cities— BALDWIN 4Oc 

DICKENS— David  Copperfleld— BALDWIN SOc 

DRYDEN— Palamon  and  Arcite—Coos. 25c 

EMERSON— Essays  and  Addresses— HEYDBICK 35c 

FRANKLIN— .4uto6jo<;rap/ii/—G  BIFFIN SOc 

GASKELL  (Mrs.)— Craiiford— HANCOCK  35C 

GEORGE  ELIOT— Silas  Mamer— HANCOCK SOc 

GOLDSMITH— The  Vicar  of  Wakefleld—MOKlOf! SOc 

H  A  WTHORNE— The  House  of  the  Seven  Gables— HERBICK S5c 

H  A  WTHORNE— Twice-Told  Tales— HEBBICK  AND  BBOKBB 4Oc 

IRVING-Life  of  Ooldsmith— KBAPP 4Oc 

IRVING—  The  Sketch.  Book— KBAPP 4Oc 

IRVING— Tales  of  a  Traveller— ana  parts  of  The  Sketch  Book— KBAPP  4Oo 

LAMB— Essays  of  Elia— BENEDICT 35c 

LONGFELLOW— Narrative  Poems— POWELL 4Oc 

LOWELL—  Vision  of  Sir  Launfal— See  Coleridge. 

M AC AULAY — Essays  on  Addison  and  Johnson — NEWCOMER SOc 

MACAULAY— Essays  on  Clive  and  Hastings  —  NEWCOMEB 35c 

M ACAUL AY— Essays  on  Milton  and  Addison— NEWCOMER SOc 

MILTON— L' Allegro,  II  Penseroso,  Comus,  and  Lycidas— NEJLSON...  J85c 

M I LTON— Paradise  Lost,  Books  I  and  II— FABLEY 25c 

PALGR AVE— Golden  Treasury— NEWCOMEB 4Oc 

P ARKM AN— The  Oregon  Trail— MACDONALD 40c 

POE— Poems  and  Tales.  Selected— NEWCOMEB SOc 

POPE -Homer's  Iliad,  Books   I,  VI,   XXII,  XXIV-CiiESSY  AND 

MOODY S85c 

RUSKIN— Sesame  a  nd  Lilies— LlNN 25c 

SCOTT— /wanftoe— BlMONDS 45c 

SCOTT— Quentin  Durward— SlMONDB 45c 

SCOTT— Lady  of  the  Lake— MOODY SOc 

SCOTT— Lay  of  the  Last  M instrel— MOODY  AND  WlLLABD 85c 

SCOTT— Marmion— MOODY  AND  WILLABD SOc 

SHAKSPERE— The  Neilson  Edition— Edited  by  W.  A.  NEILSON,  At 

You  Like  It.  Hamlet,  Julius  Caesar,  Macbeth,  Twelfth  flight,  Henry 

V,  Midsummer-Night's  Dream,  each 85c 

SHAKSPERE— Merchant  of  Venice— LOVETT 85c 

Shorter  English  Poems— From  Oray,  Ooldsmith,  Byron,  Maoaulay, 

Arnold— ScuDDEB 85c 

STEVENSON— Inland  Voyage  and  Travels  with  a  Donkey— LEONABD  35c 

STEVENSON— Treasure  Island— BBOADTJ8 85c 

TENNYSON— Selected  Poems— REYNOLDS 35c 

TENNYSON-  The  Princess— COPELAND «5c 

THACKERAY— Henry  Esmond— PHELP8 SOc 

THACKERAY—  English  Humorists— CUNLIFFE  AND  WATT SOc 

Three  American  Poems—  The  Raven,  Snow-Hound,  Miles  Standish— 

GBEEVEB J85c 

Washington,  Webster,  Lincoln— DENNEY ..  5J5c 


SCOTT,  FORESMAN  AND  COMPANY 

EDUCATIONAL  PUBLISHERS 

NEW  YORK  CHICAGO 


£beXafce  jEnolisb  Glassies 

EDITED  BY 

LINDSAY  TODD  DAMON,  A.B. 

of  English  Literature  and  Rhetoric  in 
Brown  University 


TTbe  Xafee  Engltsb  Classics 

WASHINGTON 
WEBSTER   AND  LINCOLN 

SELECTIONS  FOE 

The  College  Entrance  English  Requirements 


EDITED    B* 

JOSEPH   VILLIERS   DENNEY, 

PROFESSOR   IN   THE   OHIO    STATE    UNIVERSITY 


SCOTT,  FORESMAN  AND  COMPANY 
CHICAGO  NEW  YORK 


COPYRIGHT,  1910 
BT  SCOTT,    FORESMAN   &  COMPANY 


1*=?  i  o 


PREFACE. 

American  speeches  have  always  been  studied  en- 
thusiastically by  Americans;  not  primarily  because 
of  their  literary  value,  but  because  of  their  satis- 
fying statement  of  American  ideals.  The  words  of 
Washington,  Webster,  and  Lincoln  express  the  national 
aspiration  in  ways  that  are  forever  memorable.  Their 
phrases  have  passed  into  maxims  and  into  the  daily 
speech  of  their  countrymen.  The  appeal  they  make  is 
to  the  historical  imagination.  Consequently  they  can  be 
appreciated  best  by  those  who  bring  to  the  reading  the 
fullest  knowledge  of  the  historical  events  and  govern- 
mental principles  to  which  they  refer.  For  this  reason 
the  notes  explain,  or  put  the  student  in  the  way  of 
explaining  for  himself,  the  leading  historical  ideas  with 
which  Washington,  Webster,  and  Lincoln  deal  in  their 
addresses.  But  while  the  interest  in  these  addresses  is 
primarily  historical,  the  editor  has  not  neglected  the 
literary  and  rhetorical  phase  of  the  study.  To  this  phase 
are  devoted  a  part  of  the  introduction  and  a  considerable 
body  of  the  notes. 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO,  January,  1910. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE -. 5 

INTRODUCTION  : 

Occasions  for  Speaking 9 

Kinds   of  Public   Address 10 

The  Oral  Quality : 14 

Fashions  in  Public  Address 15 

Methods 17 

The  Parts  of  a  Discourse 19 

1.  The  Introduction 20 

2.  The  Discussion 23 

Outline  of  the  Bunker  Hill  Monument  Address ...  24 

3.  The  Conclusion 34 

TEXT: 

Farewell  Address George  Washington.  ...  35 

The  Character  of  Washington.  .  .Daniel  Webster 56 

The  Bunker  Hill  Monument Daniel  Webster 74 

Speech  at  Independence  Hall.  . .  .Abraham  Lincoln 100  — 

First  Inaugural  Address Abraham  Lincoln.  . .  . .  102 

Letter  to  Horace  Greeley Abraham  Lincoln 115  ^~ 

Speech  at  Gettysburg Abraham  Lincoln 117 

Second  Inaugural  Address Abraham  Lincoln 118 

Last  Public  Address Abraham  Lincoln 121 

Abraham   Lincoln "  The  Spectator  " 127 

NOTES    135 

7 


INTRODUCTION. 

OCCASIONS    FOR    SPEAKING. 

It  is  often  said  that  oratory  is  on  the  decline.  The 
occasions  are  rare,  we  are  told,  when  there  is  a  real 
demand  for  it.  The  newspaper,  the  magazine,  and  the 
popular  novel  have  come,  usurping  the  function  per- 
formed hy  the  orator  of  the  olden  time.  When,  as  in 
our  day,  many  can  write  and  practically  all  can  read, 
why  should  any  speak  ?  It  is  doubtless  true  that  oratory 
— in  the  sense  of  heightened  appeal  to  the  feelings — is 
not  so  often  heard  as  formerly.  It  has  almost  disap- 
peared from  legislative  halls  and  has  become  less  fre- 
quent in  courts  of  law  and  in  some  other  places  where  it 
once  nourished.  But  in  the  meantime,  in  these  and  a 
thousand  other  places,  public  speech  of  a  less  preten- 
tious and  less  ardent  sort, — addressed  primarily  not  to 
the  feelings,  but  to  the  reason, — has  become  almost  a 
daily  necessity.  This  increase  in  the  number  of  situa- 
tions calling  for  public  address  is  due  to  the  complexity 
of  modern  life.  All  of  our  professions  and  trades,  all 
of  our  enterprises, — political,  religious,  philanthropic, 
educational,  and  social, — even  our  pleasures  and  sports, 
are  highly  organized.  Each  has  its  stated  meetings,  each 
its  occasions  for  the  oral  communication  of  ideas  and 
feelings.  There  probably  never  was  a,  time  when  these 
occasions  were  half  so  numerous  as  they  are  today.  As 
a  result,  the  art  of  public  speech  has  become  less  of  a 
profession,  less  a  matter  of  set  rules  and  formulae,  less 

9 


10  INTRODUCTION 

the  possession  of  a  particular  class  of  people  exclusively 
devoted  to  its  cultivation,  and  more  of  a  staple  need  of 
the  many.  A  good  reason,  this,  why  every  educated  per- 
son should  wish  to  learn  more  about  it.  Carlyle  con- 
gratulated the  English  on  the  fact  that  they  were  a  na- 
tion of  poor  speakers.  He  thought  that  the  less  talking 
there  was,  the  greater  would  be  the  amount  of  useful 
work  accomplished.  But  since  some  talking  is  in- 
evitable in  order  that  work  may  be  directed  into 
channels  that  are  worth  while,  it  seems  a  strange 
reason  for  pride  in  any  nation,  or  in  any  indi- 
vidual, that  the  thing  is  done  poorly.  Carlyle's 
friend,  Emerson,  had  a  better  word  for  his  countrymen, 
when  he  wrote  that  "if  there  ever  was  a  country  where 
eloquence  was  a  power,  it  is  in  the  United  States.  Here 
is  room  for  every  degree  of  it,  on  every  one  of  its  ascend- 
ing stages, — that  of  useful  speech  in  our  commercial, 
manufacturing,  railroad,  and  educational  conventions; 
that  of  political  advice  and  persuasion  on  the  grandest 
theatre,  reaching,  as  all  good  men  trust,  into  a  vast  fu- 
ture, and  so  compelling  the  best  thought  and  noblest 
administrative  ability  that  the  citizen  can  offer.  And 
here  are  the  services  of  science,  the  demands  of  art, 
and  the  lessons  of  religion,  to  be  brought  home  to  the 
instant  practice  of  thirty  millions  of  people.  Is  it  not 
worth  the  ambition  of  every  generous  youth  to  train 
and  arm  his  mind  with  all  the  resources  of  knowledge, 
of  method,  of  grace,  and  of  character,  to  serve  such  a 
constituency  ?" 

KINDS    OF    PUBLIC    ADDRESS. 

In  the  quotation  just  given,  Emerson  suggests  a 
classification  of  speeches.  The  principle  of  his  classifi- 
cation is  the  relative  importance  of  their  subject-matter. 


His  first  division  includes  utterances  of  immediate  prac- 
tical utility,  utterances  that  deal  with  affairs  and  that 
deal  with  affairs  mainly  on  the  matter-of-fact  basis; 
beginning  with  commerce,  but  rising  successively  to  the 
larger  interests  involved  in  manufacturing,  in  the  rail- 
road problem,  in  education.  His  second  division  in- 
cludes those  utterances  that  touch  our  political  interests. 
It  is  higher  than  the  first  because  here  we  have  to  deal 
not  merely  with  matters  of  fact,  but  with  matters  of 
national  sentiment  and  aspiration ;  consequently  there  is 
here  offered  a  broader  field  for  the  element  of  advice  and 
persuasion.  His  third  division  includes  those  utter- 
ances that  deal  with  man's  most  vital  interests,  speeches 
of  which  the  end  is  to  render  science,  art,  or  religion  most 
serviceable, — to  make  them  a  part  of  the  life  of  every 
man.  Here  the  field  for  the  element  of  persuasion  is 
widest.  It  is  clear  that  Emerson's  classification  will 
apply  equally  well  to  written  discourse  and  that  it 
covers  the  field.  It  is  as  specific  also  as  a  classification 
of  so  many  species  can  be  made  and  remain  a  true 
classification.  It  would  not  be  difficult  to  place  any 
speech  in  one  of  Emerson's  three  divisions. 

A  classification  on  an  entirely  different  principle  was 
made  by  Aristotle.  His  principle  of  classification  is 
the  attitude  of  the  audience  toward  the  speech.  Audi- 
ences, he  says,  are  either  judges  of  things  done  in  the 
past,  as  are  legal  judges  and  juries ;  or  they  are  judges  of 
things  proposed  for  the  future,  as  are  legislative  or 
political  assemblies;  or  they  are  judges  of  the  speech 
itself  considered  merely  as  a  work  of  art.  Hence 
Aristotle  classifies  oratory  as  (1)  judicial,  or  the  oratory 
of  the  bar,  the  aim  of  which  is  the  securing  or  protecting 
of  personal  rights  by  convincing  and  persuading  judges 
and  juries;  (2)  deliberative,  or  the  oratory  before  con- 


12  INTRODUCTION 

ventioris,  assemblies,  legislatures,  and  public  meetings, 
political,  religious,  commercial,  or  educational;  and  (3) 
epideictic,  or  the  oratory  of  display,  now  more  fre- 
quently called  occasional  oratory,  under  which  heading 
modern  writers  who  follow  Aristotle  have  put  prac- 
tically all  secular  speaking  that  is  not  easily  classified 
as  judicial  or  deliberative, — the  eulogy,  the  anniversary 
address,  the  dedicatory  address,  the  popular  lecture, 
the  commencement  address,  the  after-dinner  speech, 
etc.  To  all  this  it  is  necessary  to  add  (4) 
pulpit  oratory,  a  species  that  has  appeared  since 
Aristotle  wrote.  The  mere  statement  of  this  classi- 
fication reveals  its  remoteness  from  modern  life  and  its 
insufficiency  as  a  classification  of  the  multifarious  public 
speaking  of  our  day.  The  basis  of  the  Aristotelian 
division  is  the  mental  attitude  of  the  audience.  But 
the  psychology  of  audiences  is  not  so  simple  a  matter 
as  this  four-fold  division  assumes  it  to  be.  Emerson 
once  called  attention  to  the  undoubted  fact  that  every 
audience  is  composed  of  many  audiences;  that  the 
speaker  finds  himself  addressing  now  one,  now  another, 
of  these  lesser  audiences;  that  very  rarely,  if  ever,  may 
a  homogeneous  state  of  mind  be  presumed  in  all 
listeners ;  that  the  very  same  listener  may  be  successively 
in  several  mental  attitudes  during  the  same  address. 
The  principle  by  which  orations  are  to  be  classified 
cannot,  then,  be  a  principle  based  solely  upon  a  homo- 
geneous state  of  mind  which  probably  does  not  exist. 
It  is  clear,  too,  that  the  state  of  mind  appealed  to  by 
a  deliberative  oration  may  be,  perversely  enough,  that 
which  this  classification  assigns  exclusively  to  judicial 
oratory.  Modern  pulpit  oratory,  also,  may  be,  and  often 
is,  judicial  or  deliberative  in  spirit;  it  may  look  either 
to  the  past  or  to  the  future.  The  epideictic  was  thought 


INTRODUCTION  13 

by  the  Greeks  to  be  best  illustrated  in  the  eulogy  and 
the  invective;  but  surely  it  is  not  just  to  regard  these 
as  forms  of  display  and  to  judge  them  solely  by  artistic 
considerations.  Even  the  modern  oratorical  contest, 
which  is  most  often  accused  of  being  purely  epideictic, 
rejects  as  inadequate  this  basis  of  judgment  and  de- 
mands a  judgment  based  upon  the  value  of  the  thought 
as  well  as  upon  the  style  and  the  delivery.  In  spite  of 
all  this,  the  ps}*chological  fact  on  which  Aristotle  based 
his  classification  remains  true, — that  a  speaker  must  con- 
sider his  audience  and  must  try  to  adapt  his  material  to 
what  he  supposes  the  mental  state  of  a  majority  of  his 
listeners  to  be.  The  ideal  standard  of  speech  thus  becomes 
not  mere  self-expression,  for  self-expression  implies  no 
thought  of  the  audience;  but  rather  self-communication, 
which  implies  a  constant  effort  to  carry  our  ideas  over 
to  those  who  listen  to  us.  This  ideal  standard  we  owe 
to  Aristotle. 

A  third  classification  divides  spoken  discourse,  as 
written  discourse  is  usually  divided,  into  descriptive, 
narrative,  expository,  and  argumentative.  The  principle 
of  division  here  is  the  rhetorical  process  employed.  This 
classification  makes  no  attempt  to  describe  a  eulogy,  or 
a  sermon,  or  a  speech  at  the  bar,  or  an  after-dinner 
speech,  or  any  other  kind  of  speech,  as  a  distinct  species 
having  a  quality  of  its  own  that  no  other  species  pos- 
sesses. It  assumes  that  the  vital  characteristic  of  any 
utterance  is  not  indicated  by  its  popular  class  label. 
It  assumes  that  eulogies,  sermons,  and  the  rest,  differ 
so  widely  in  variety  and  method,  that  no  class  character- 
istic that  is  at  once  useful  and  true  can  be  found  for 
each  of  them.  But  every  speech  may  be  examined  for 
its  rhetorical  process,  and  this  examination  will  show  the 
fundamental  types  of  oral  discourse.  This  classification, 


14  INTRODUCTION 

too,  is  imperfect;  for  a  speech  that  is  descriptive  may 
use,  as  accessory  to  its  purpose,  narration,  exposition,  or 
argument,  as  it  needs ;  and  so  with  the  others.  The  truth 
is  that  we  must  keep  in  mind  all  three  of  the  systems 
of  classification  when  studying  any  speech, — Emerson's, 
Aristotle's,  and  that  of  the  rhetoricians, — if  we  would 
arrive  at  anything  like  a  complete  judgment;  for  (1)  we 
must  think  of  the  importance  of  the  subject-matter 
as  Emerson  thought  of  it;  (2)  we  must  think  of  the 
speech  as  an  effort  at  communication  with  a  certain 
audience,  as  Aristotle  thought  of  it;  and  (3)  we  must 
think  of  the  effectiveness  of  the  process  employed,  as 
the  rhetoricians  enjoin. 

THE    ORAL   QUALITY. 

Whatever  their  classification,  most  successful  speeches 
have  one  marked  characteristic  in  common.  Even  when 
reduced  to  print,  they  appeal  primarily  not  to  the  eye 
but  to  the  ear.  The  attentive  reader  feels  called  upon 
in  imagination  to  hear  a  speech  as  he  reads  it.  If  his 
mind  is  active  he  images  also  the  speaker,  the  audience, 
the  occasion;  and  is  impelled  to  find  out  as  much  as 
possible  about  the  feelings  that  ruled  the  hearts  of  men 
when  it  was  delivered.  He  is  ready  to  make  concessions 
to  cover  the  loss  which  the  spoken  sentence  may  suffer 
When  printed.  A  printed  extemporaneous  address  when 
read  critically  will  usually  show  faults  of  phrasing 
that  were  doubtless  overlooked  by  those  listeners  who 
shared  the  speaker's  feelings.  Speech  has  an  excellence 
of  its  own,  entirely  apart  from  its  literary  quality.  More- 
over, in  the  leisure  of  reading,  we  often  take  pleasure  in 
a  certain  subtlety  and  fineness  of  statement ;  we  like  to 
make  our  own  inferences ;  we  accept  mere  hints  of  what 
we  are  expected  to  think,  and  we  have  time  to  suspend 


INTRODUCTION  15 

•eading,  if  need  be,  in  order  to  make  sure  of  our  ground. 
.n  spoken  discourse,  there  is  no  time  for  this.  The 
peaker  must  move  forward  to  his  conclusion  by  a  simple 
>lan  and  a  directness  of  statement  that  leaves  no  doubts 
)ending.  A  speech  may  have  all  of  the  literary  virtues 
md  may  yet  fail  for  lack  of  simplicity  of  structure  and 
he  easy  intelligibility  which  comes  from  direct  idiomatic 
itatement.  Having  these  latter,  together  with  energy 
md  insight  into  the  meaning  of  the  occasion,  a  speech 
vdll  be  effective,  though  it  lack  grace,  suggestiveness, 
•efmement,  and  even  strict  grammatical  accuracy.  We 
)rize  in  a  speech  certain  of  the  qualities  of  good  con- 
rersation, — unpretentiousness,  short  and  pointed  phras- 
ng — but  not  its  waywardness;  in  a  speech  we  look  for 
he  straight-forward  march  to  partial  and  complete  con- 
ilusions.  These  characteristics  of  speech,  which  may 
>e  called  the  oral  (or,  equally  well,  the  aural)  quality, 
ire  forced  upon  the  speaker  by  the  immediate  presence 
>f  his  audience.  Some  writers,  too,  are  keenly  conscious, 
vhile  composing,  of  those  whom  they 'are  addressing; 
;hey  hear  each  sentence  as  they  put  it  on  paper.  Their 
writing  is  essentially  oral  although  it  may  never  be 
ipoken.  Many  an  open  letter  or  newspaper  editorial, 
iometimes  even  a  state  paper,  has  this  oral  quality. 
Some  spoken  discourses  lack  it;  they  are  essays  rather 
;han  speeches,  addressed  to  the  eye  rather  than  to 
;he  ear. 

FASHIONS   IN   PUBLIC   ADDRESS. 

While  the  notion  of  addressing  a  specific  audience, 
ivith  its  resultant  (the  cultivation  of  the  oral  quality) 
las  persisted  since  the  days  of  Aristotle,  and  is,  indeed, 
:he  explanation  of  the  present  ideal  of  public  speech, — 
effective  self-communication, — it  is  equally  true  that 


16  INTRODUCTION 

fashions  have  changed  in  this  as  in  the  other  arts.  Th 
essential  worth  and  dignity  of  the  old  classical  orator 
cannot  be  questioned;  yet  its  manner  would  by  man; 
be  accounted  mannerism  today.  For  instance,  publi 
taste  at  the  present  time  is  somewhat  intolerant  of  an 
but  the  most  indirect  and  carefully  disguised  attempt 
at  emotional  appeal.  We  want  the  facts:  the  facts,  w 
think,  carry  their  own  appeal;  having  the  facts,  w 
think  that  we  know  how  to  feel  about  them.  Henc 
arises  the  greater  share  of  the  intellectual  element  ii 
the  speeches  of  today  as  compared  with  those  of  forme 
times;  and  the  more  scrupulous  regard  for  accurac 
of  statement.  Hence,  too,  has  come  about  the  gradua 
abandonment  of  certain  fashions  that  were  once  preva 
lent,  and  the  adoption  of  new  fashions.  It  was  one 
the  fashion,  for  example,  for  a  young  lawyer  addressin 
a  jury  to  refer  humbly  to  his  youth  and  inexperience 
or  to  eulogize  the  jury  system.  It  was  once  the  fashio: 
for  a  skillful  speaker  to  apologize  for  a  pretended  lac 
of  skill.  It  was-  once  the  fashion  always  to  emphasiz 
the  importance  of  the  subject,  even  though  every  on 
appreciated  its  importance.  These  things  were  nc 
insincerities ;  they  were  the  conventions  of  the  moment 
they  were  expected.  It  is  the  fashion  today  t 
do  none  of  these  things,  to  take  much  for  grantee 
and  (whether  intrinsically  a  good  fashion  or  not)  t 
get  speedily  to  the  essential  point  to  be  presented,  wit 
very  little  preliminary  or  introductory  matter.  Th 
fear  of  delay,  the  fear  of  over-formality,  which  prevail 
among  speakers  today,  while  generally  wholesome,  i 
doubtless  the  cause  of  a  certain  abruptness,  nervousnesi 
and  undue  haste,  that  are  often  noticeable  in  conteir 
porary  speaking.  We  have  rid  ourselves  of  indirectioi 
and  of  tardiness  in  taking  hold  of  our  theme;  but  w 


INTRODUCTION  17 

have  sacrificed  something  of  ease  and  grace  in  the 
process.  To  be  always  relentlessly  business-like,  direct, 
and  practical  in  speech,  may  itself,  at  some  future  time, 
be  criticised  as  a  mannerism  of  the  present  age.  There 
is,  however,  in  modern  speeches,  a  nicer  adjustment 
of  the  time-element  to  the  importance  of  the  message. 
Economy  of  time  has  become  a  paramount  considera- 
tion. Speakers  today  usually  know,  beforehand,  how 
much  time  they  are  expected  to  occupy,  and  govern 
themselves  accordingly. 

METHODS. 

Not  only  do  oratorical  fashions  change  from  age  to  age, 
but  at  any  given  moment  there  are  marked  differences  of 
method.  Among  the  Greeks,  for  instance,  most  of  the  ora- 
tors and  teachers  insisted  upon  elevation  of  thought  and 
sentiment,  with  diction  to  match,  as  essential  to  a  good 
speech ;  but  then,  as  now,  there  were  successful  speakers 
who,  like  Andocides,  professed  a  contempt  for  the  rules 
of  rhetoric  and  for  any  serious  study  of  the  art  which 
they  themselves  practised;  who  paid  little  attention  to 
arranging  their  material  in  an  orderly  way;  who  relied 
on  a  fund  of  good  stories  to  help  them  in  times  of  need ; 
and  who  advised  speakers  to  trust  to  their  native  gifts, 
and  to  the  inspiration  of  the  occasion.  There  were 
some,  like  Hyperides,  who  advocated  a  conversational 
manner,  the  plainest  of  plain  speech,  and  a  large  use  of 
colloquialism,  in  opposition  to'  those  who  advised  the 
cultivation  of  a  more  dignified,  stately,  or  highly  ornate 
diction.  Some  studied  the  art  of-  the  public  actors 
in  order  to  learn  "the  outer  signs  of  eloquence"  and  thus 
cultivated  a  theatrical  manner  of  speaking;  others,  dis- 
daining this  as  shallow  trickery,  studied  the  art  of  being 
artless.  There  were  those,  however,  who  advocated 


18  INTKODUCTION 

the  sound  principle  that  the  cultivation  of  the  "inner 
spirit," — the  systematic  and  prolonged  education  of  the 
mind  and  heart,  the  achievement  of  a  strong  character, 
— should  precede  and  accompany  the  study  of  the  "outer 
signs."  Many  followed  ^Eschines  in  practising  written 
composition  assiduously  and  in  studying  general  litera- 
ture and  philosophy,  as  essential  elements  in  the  educa- 
tion of  a  speaker.  Demosthenes,  the  greatest  of 
Greek  orators,  illustrated  the  value  of  unremitting 
and  purposeful  labor.  In  order  to  overcome  de- 
fects of  voice,  articulation,  breathing,  and  physical 
manner,  he  imposed  upon  himself  arduous  exer- 
cises through  a  series  of  years;  he  watched  the  ways 
of  the  actors  and  of  other  professional  speakers,  and 
imitated  them  in  those  points  which  seemed  appropriate 
to  his  own  personality  and  temperament.  He  gave  seven 
years  of  his  life  to  practising  written  composition  and 
to  studies  in  history,  law,  and  statesmanship.  Believing 
that  he  could  win  no  lasting  success  without  worthy 
thinking,  he  endeavored  in  all  of  his  studies  to  find  out 
what  was  fundamentally  right  and  not  merely  what  was 
expedient,  in  order  that,  throughout  his  life,  he  might 
habitually  and  unconsciously  apply  the  highest  test  to 
every  question  that  he  might  be  called  upon  to  discuss. 
In  thus  devoting  himself  primarily  to  gaining  sound 
knowledge  and  to  developing  moral  earnestness,  while 
steadily  learning,  through  practice  and  a  study  of 
models,  the  approved  modes  of  speech  that  were  suitable 
to  himself  as  an  individual,  he  set  for  all  time  the 
example  of  a  sound  method  of  training  for  effective 
self-communication  on  any  subject  of  discussion;  a 
method  involving  first,  adequate  knowledge  of  the  facts 
to  be  discussed ;  secondly,  the  ability  and  the  disposition 
to  apply  principles  of  right  and  wrong  to  the  facts  as 


INTRODUCTION  19 

ascertained;  thirdly,  attention  to  the  best  way  of  pre- 
senting the  matter.  The  Greek  and  Latin  writers  on 
public  speaking  devoted  a  great  deal  of  discussion  to 
the  first  and  second  of  these  points.  Later  writers  have 
said  less  about  these,  devoting  their  attention  almost 
exclusively  to  the  art  of  presentation ;  but  always  assum- 
ing the  preeminent  importance  of  knowledge  and  sin- 
cerity. 

THE    PARTS    OP   A   DISCOURSE. 

The  usual  division  of  any  discourse  is  into  (1)  intro- 
duction (see  pp.  20-23),  (2)  discussion  (pp.  23-34), 
and  (3)  conclusion  (p.  34).  These  terms  suggest 
little  more  than  beginning,  middle,  end.  The  ancient 
writers  enumerated  the  following  as  parts  of  an  address : 
introduction,  the  narration  or  exposition,  the  proposi- 
tion, the  confirmation,  the  refutation,  the  conclusion; 
and  some  added  the  excursus  or  digression.  This  min- 
uter division  is  still  useful  as  indicating  certain  elements 
that  enter  or  may  enter  into  the  make-up  of  a  speech, 
certain  functions  to  be  performed,  or,  for  good  reason, 
to  be  consciously  left  unperformed.  In  most  argumenta- 
tive discourses,  for  example,  a  formal  narration  or  expo- 
sition of  facts,  as  a  separate  part,  preliminary  to  the 
proposition  and  the  confirmation  of  proof,  is  unneces- 
sary: yet  the  element  of  narration  or  exposition  will 
appear  at  any  stage  of  the  discourse  as  needed.  'Likewise 
proof  and  refutation  may  or  may  not  constitute  the  main 
body  of  a  discourse :  in  a  discourse  that  is  essentially  nar- 
rative or  expository,  argument  may  be  absent  altogether, 
while  in  others  there  is  nothing  but  argument.  The 
proposition,  or,  if  there  be  no  proposition,  the  subject, 
can  hardly  be  considered  a  part  of  discourse,  yet  its 
enumeration  with  the  parts  points  clearly  to  the  need 


20  INTRODUCTION 

of  some  unifying  element  in  every  discourse ;  and  indeed 
the  excursus,  or  the  digression,  an  element  now  almost 
universally  condemned  as  lacking  all  excuse  for  being, 
was  originally  offered  in  answer  to  the  human  need  of 
relief  from  too  strict  an  adherence  to  the  logic  of  the 
subject  and  as  an  opportunity  for  the  speaker  to  un- 
burden his  mind  on  any  matter  that  logic  would  exclude 
from  his  discourse.  We  shall  adopt  as  parts  of  discourse 
the  introduction,  the  discussion,  and  the  conclusion ;  and, 
in  the  treatment  of  each,  we  shall  ask  what  elements  may 
properly  enter  into  its  make-up. 

1.  The  Introduction.  The  work  of  the  introduction  is 
to  provide  all  that  is  needed  by  way  of  preliminary  infor- 
mation and  in  order  to  secure  a  favorable  disposition  to- 
wards the  ideas  that  are  to  follow  in  the  discussion.  An- 
cient writers,  however,  restricted  the  introduction  to  the 
work  of  gaining  the  active  good  will  of  the  audience. 
They  assigned  to  another  part  of  the  discourse  the  work 
of  giving  preliminary  information.  The  chief  function 
of  the  introduction,  they  thought,  is  to  overcome  hostil- 
ity in  the  mind  of  the  audience,  should  hostility  exist ;  to 
win  attention,  and  to  create  an  interest  in  the  subject, 
leaving  no  hearer  in  a  state  of  indifference.  One  of  the 
best  recommendations  of  Aristotle  may  be  stated  thus: 
the  way  to  gain  good  will  is  to  show  good  will.  In 
general,  good  will  is  made  apparent  in  modern  speeches, 
more  often  in  the  tone  and  spirit  of  the  opening  than 
in  any  direct  statement. 

A  second  method  of  gaining  good  will  is  the  appeal, 
direct  or  indirect,  to  community  of  interest,  or  to  class 
or  party  spirit.  The  tacit  assumption  in  this  appeal 
is  that  because  speaker  and  audience  are  of  the  same 
nationality,  church,  political  party,  school,  club,  social 


INTRODUCTION  21 

class,  trade,  profession,  or  other  occupation,  enjoy  the 
same  intellectual  pursuits,  or  even  the  same  sports,  they 
will  be  inclined  to  agree  in  all  matters.  Webster,  eulo- 
gizing Washington,  naturally  touches  the  chord  of  patri- 
otism; and  at  the  outset  of  the  Monument  Address  he 
voices  the  common  feeling  as  he  conceives  it.  His  second 
paragraph  is  devoted  exclusively  to  the  patriotic  note. 

While  showing  good  will,  however,  while  seeking  to 
identify  himself  with  his  audience,  the  speaker  must 
not  surrender  any  of  his  convictions  or  any  of  his  self- 
respect.  As  Aristotle  long  ago  pointed  out,  a  speaker 
commends  himself  chiefly  by  his  good  judgment  and 
reasonableness,  by  his  reliance  on  his  own  worth  and 
the  worth  of  his  message.  But  modern  taste  forbids  him 
to  assert  his  good  qualities.  A  speaker's  reasonableness, 
his  worth,  his  virtue,  or  strength,  declare  themselves  in 
his  treatment  of  his  theme.  The  personal  introduction 
in  political  or  other  controversy,  however,  is  still  com- 
mon, and,  indeed,  is  unavoidable  when  the  speaker  has 
been  made  the  object  of  criticism  and  thus  has  himself 
become  part  of  the  matter  at  issue.  It  is  used  with  a  fine 
reticence  in  Washington's  Farewell  Address  and  with 
solemn  effectiveness  in  Lincoln's  Independence  Hall 
address.  But,  excepting  instances  of  obvious  necessity, 
like  those  just  named,  the  personal  introduction  will  not 
often  suggest  itself  in  these  days  as  an  easy  or  appropri- 
ate method  of  beginning. 

Closely  related  to  the  personal  introduction,  and  often 
employed  in  connection  with  it,  is  the  introduction  based 
upon  the  importance  of  the  subject.  As  a  general  rule 
in  modern  addresses  the  importance  of  the  subject  is  a 
thing  to  be  aseumed  rather  than  directly  asserted.  The 
importance  of  the  subject  is  either  self-evident  at  the 
outset  or  is  to  be  made  evident  by  the  whole  discourse. 


22  INTRODUCTION 

It  should  be  recognized  by  the  audiences  as  a  result  of 
the  speech,  rather  than  declared  by  the  speaker  at  the 
beginning. 

Probably  the  easiest  and  most  economical  introduc- 
tions are  those  which  are  based  on  some  pertinent  re- 
mark that  has  been  made  by  another.  An  introduction 
of  this  kind  seems  to  continue  a  discussion  already 
begun  in  people's  minds,  and  offers  a  point  of  departure 
either  in  harmony  with  the  quoted  sentiment  or  in 
contrast  with  it.  The  introduction  by  anecdote  belongs 
to  this  class. 

Whatever  the  subject  matter  chosen  for  the  introduc- 
tion it  must,  in  order  to  suit  the  modern  taste,  bear 
close  relevance  to  the  theme  of  the  discourse.  The 
irrelevant  introduction  advocated  by  some,  practised 
by  many,  may  be  attractive  in  itself,  but  it  arouses 
expectations  that  are  destined  not  to  be  fulfilled,  and 
its  final  effect,  when  it  is  recalled  by  a  hearer,  is  to 
diminish  the  total  influence  of  the  speech.  Nowhere  is 
there  greater  danger,  than  in  the  introduction,  of  vio- 
lating unity  of  tone.  If  the  introduction  is  keyed  at 
too  high  an  elevation  of  thought  or  feeling  or  is  too 
finely  finished,  the  speaker  may  later  find  himself  un- 
able to  maintain  the  level  on  which  he  started  and  the 
decline  to  a  lower  level  is  sure  to  be  disappointing. 
Speakers  of  experience  are  usually  wary  of  this  danger 
and  prefer  to  begin  on  a  level  from  which  it  will  not  be 
difficult  to  rise  as  the  essential  parts  of  the  discourse  are 
taken  up.  The  summit  of  an  inclined  plane  is  not  a  good 
point  of  departure  in  any  discourse.  The  splendid  intro- 
ductions of  Webster  must  have  put  many  of  his  first 
hearers  in  fear  that  no  man,  however  great,  could  begin 
on  so  high  a  plane  and  maintain  himself  there  for  long. 

The  usual  advice  to  the  inexperienced  is  to  prepare 


INTRODUCTION  23 

the  introduction  after  the  body  of  the  discourse  has 
been  written.  The  advice  is  sound  if  understood  as  a 
warning  against  a  pretentious,  a  trite,  or  a  far-fetched 
introduction,  or  against  one  that  for  any  reason  is  out 
of  tune  with  the  prevailing  note  of  the  discourse.  The 
further  advice  that  if  an  appropriate  introduction  has 
not  suggested  itself  by  the  time  the  body  of  the  dis- 
course is  completed,  all  attempt  at  introduction  should 
be  given  up,  is  also  sound.  Earlier  writers  on  oratory 
provided  for  this  very  contingency  by  naming  one  of 
their  varieties  of  introduction  "the  abrupt  beginning." 
To  this  advice  may  be  added  the  reminder,  contained  in 
a  word  of  Walter  Bagehot's,  that  excepting  in  times  of 
great  excitement  an  audience  begins  to  listen  in  a  de- 
cidedly "factish"  frame  of  mind.  At  the  outset  it  pre- 
fers the  particular  rather  than  the  general,  facts  rather 
than  principles,  the  specific  instance  rather  than  the 
universal  truth,  the  intellectual  rather  than  the  emo- 
tional. 

2.  The  Discussion.  The  main  body  of  an  address  in- 
cludes one  or  more  of  the  following  elements:  (1)  a 
division  or  partition  of  the  subject,  (2)  definition,  (3) 
narration,  description,  or  exposition,  (4)  proofs  and  ref- 
utation. The  order  in  which  these  things  appear  in  an 
address  is  determined  by  the  nature  of  the  address. 
One  or  more  of  them  may  in  many  cases  be  omitted  al- 
together. Attention  to  the  first  will  always  be  necessary. 

(1)  The  division  or  partition  of  the  material  is  not 
often  formally  announced  in  the  finished  address,  as  was 
once  the  custom.  When  it  is  so  announced  it  is  usually 
accounted  a  part  of  the  introduction.  Yet  it  is  with 
the  organization  of  the  body  of  the  discourse  that  the 
partition  is  concerned;  and,  in  any  event,  there  must 
be  in  the  preparation  of  a  discussion  a  division  or  par- 


24  INTRODUCTION 

tition  of  the  material  with  a  view  to  orderly  presenta- 
tion. Waiving  the  question  whether  the  partition  is 
at  the  end  of  the  introduction  or  at  the  beginning  of 
the  discussion,  we  may  say  that  the  best  division  is  the 
simplest  and  most  natural,  with  each  part  distinct  from 
the  others,  yet  with  all  the  parts  standing  in  intelligible 
relationship  to  one  another  and  to  the  main  idea.  In 
spoken  more  than  in  written  discourse,  the  plan  must 
be  perfectly  clear,  because  the  hearer  has  no  time  to 
think  back  over  the  speech  in  order  to  consider  relation- 
ships of  ideas.  He  is  occupied  with  the  passing  word. 
As  an  illustration  of  the  value  of  a  clear,  self-con- 
sistent partition,  let  us  study  the  underlying  structure 
of  Webster's  Bunker  Hill  Monument  Speech.  The 
speech  is  of  the  expository  class;  there  is  no  debatable 
proposition;  there  is  only  a  subject  and  an  occasion  re- 
quiring a  voice  to  express  its  dominant  mood.  The  plan 
which  follows  fails,  of  course,  to  reproduce  what  is  most 
characteristic  and  valuable  in  the  speech,  the  element  of 
personality,  the  emotional  uplift;  but  it  shows  the  chief 
ideas  in  their  relationship. 

OUTLINE  OF  THE  BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT  ADDRESS. 

INTRODUCTION. 

1.  Impressiveness  of  the  occasion  (p.  74,  11.  1-8). 

2.  Patriotic  memories  and  hopes  peculiar  to  Americans  in- 

spired (p.  74,  1.  9 — p.  76,  1.  17). 

I.     By  the  significance  to  them  of  the  date  and  pJace 

(p.  74,  1.  9— p.  75,  1.  7). 

II.     By  the  significance  to  them  of  the  discovery  of 
America   (p.  75,  11.  8-23). 


INTRODUCTION  25 

III.     By  the  significance  to  them  of  colonial  history  (p. 

75,  1.  24— p.  76,1.  8). 

IV.     By  the  significance  to  them  of  the  Eevolution  (p. 

76,  11.  9-17). 

,    DISCUSSION. 

Purposes  of  the  Society  in  providing  for  the  Monument 
(p.  76,  1.  18— p.  77,  1.  2). 

I.  Not  that  a  monument  is  necessary,  but  to  show 
our  appreciation  of  the  deeds  of  our  ancestors, 
to  keep  alive  similar  sentiments  and  to  foster 
a  regard  for  the  principles  of  the  Eevolution 
(p.  77,  11.  3-26). 

II.  Not  to  cherish  hostility  or  the  military  spirit, 
but  to  express  our  sense  of  the  benefits  which 
have  come  through  the  events  commemorated 
(p.  77,  1.  27— p.  78,1.  29). 

Mighty  events  in  America  and  Europe  since  the  Eevolu- 
tion (p.  78,  1.  30— p.  80,  1.  18). 
Apostrophe  to  the  survivors  of  the  Eevolution   (p.  80,  1. 

19— p.  81,  1.  20)  v 
Tribute  to  the  patriotic  dead   (p.  81,  1.  21— p.  82,  1.  1), 

especially  to  Warren  (p.  82,  1.  2 — p.  82,  1.  19). 
Address  to  the  living  survivors  (p.  82, 1.  20 — p.  83,  1.  23). 
The  unity  of  spirit  in  the  Colonies  and  the  effect  of  the 
Battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  especially  upon  La  Fayette  (p. 
83,  1.  24— p.  87,  1.  25). 

Eulogy  on  La  Fayette  (p.  87,  1.  26— p.  89,  1.  7). 
Improvement  in  the  world  since  the  Battle  of  Bunker 
Hill,  especially  in  politics  and  government   (p.  89,  1.  8). 
1.     Diffusion  of  knowledge  and  community  of  ideas; 

with  results  (p.  89,  1.  23— p.  90,  1.  33). 
II.     Difference  between   the   Eevolution  in   America 
and  the  French  Eevolution  (p.  91,  1.  28). 
a.    America  was  accustomed  to  representative 
government  (p.  92,  11.  4-30). 


56  INTRODUCTION 

"b.     Europe    was    a    stranger    to    the    popular 

principle  (p.  92,  1.  31— p.  93,  1.  4). 
c.     Europe  has,  however,  gained  by  the  change 
(p.  93,  11.  4-21). 

(1)  Everywhere  there  is  a  desire  for 
popular  government  (p.  93,  11. 
22-32). 

III.     The  influence   of  world   opinion  upon  arbitrary 
governments  (p.  93,  1.  33 — p.  94,  1.  19).     The 
case  of  Greece  (p.  94,  1.  20— p.  95,  1.  33). 
IV.     The  rise  of  independent  states  in  South  America 

(p.  95,  1.  34— p.  97,  1.  6). 
I.    The  influence  of  the  example  of  America  (p.  97,  1.  7). 

I.     It  proves  that  free  government  may  be  safe  and 

just  (p.  97,  11.  13-19). 
II.     If  we  fail,  free  government  will  perish  from  the 

earth  (p.  97,  1.  20— p.  98,  1.  2). 

HI.     Free  government  may  be  as  permanent  as  any 
other  (p.  98,  11.  3-13). 

CONCLUSION. 

The  duty  of  America  is  to  preserve  what  the  fathers  won 
and  to  increase  the  spirit  of  union. 

This  analysis  shows  that  "Webster  is  in  complete  con- 
trol of  his  material ;  he  divides  it  as  he  will,  for  the  sub- 
ject and  the  occasion  do  not  rigidly  prescribe  what  points 
he  shall  take  up.  There  is  no  logical  proposition  to 
impose  requirements  upon  him  in  the  matter  of  division, 
subdivision,  and  proof.  To  be  sure  we  may  reduce  the 
whole  address  to  the  form  of  a  syllogismjf  we  wish : 

Major  JPremise.  All  true  patri6ts~who  have  made  sac- 
rifices that  their  country  might  furnish  to  the  world 
an  illustrious  example  of  freedom,  good  government  and 
prosperity,  should  be  gratefully  honored  by  their  coun- 
trymen. 


INTRODUCTION  27 

Minor  Premise.  The  heroes  of  the  American  Revo- 
lution  have  made  sacrifices  that  their  country  might,  etc. 

Conclusion.  The  heroes  of  the  American  Eevolution 
should  be  gratefully  honored  by  their  countrymen. 
Nothing  is  gained,  however,  by  applying  this  strict 
logical  test  to  an  address  the  chief  aim  of  which  is  not 
to  prove  a  proposition,  but  to  deepen  feeling  and  to 
increase  appreciation.  To  treat  it  as  we  treat  an  argu- 
mentative discourse  is  to  reduce  it  to  a  string  of  plati- 
tudes, and  to  miss  all  that  gives  it  distinction. 

It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  while  Webster  is  free 
to  select  what  topics  he  wishes,  we  find  no  waywardness 
or  eccentricity  in  the  selection.  The  topics  are  emi- 
nently appropriate  to  the  subject  and  the  occasion;  each 
is  distinct  from  the  others;  each  follows  the  preceding 
topic  naturally.  As  we  pass  from  one  to  the  next  we 
are  made  to  feel  their  relationship.  In  some  cases  it 
is  a  relationship  of  similarity  or  contrast ;  the  apostrophe 
to  the  survivors  (C)  suggests  the  tribute  to  the  patriotic 
dead  (D)  and  this  in  turn  suggests  the  address  to  the 
living  (E).  In  other  cases  it  is  a  relationship  of  cause 
and  effect;  the  eulogy  of  LaFayette  (G)  follows  as  a 
natural  effect  of  the  facts  cited  just  before  under  (F) ; 
the  apostrophe  to  the  survivors  (C)  is  the  natural  effect 
of  the  recital  of  the  mighty  events  referred  to  under 
(B)  ;  the  improvement  in  the  world  (H)  is  the  effect 
of  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  and  community  of  ideas 
(H-I)  ;  the  difference  between  the  Revolution  in  Amer- 
ica and  in  Europe  (H-I I)  is  accounted  for  by  a  recital 
of  causes  (H-II  a-b).  In  still  other  cases  it  is  a  rela- 
tionship neither  of  similarity  and  contrast  nor  of  cause 
and  effect,  but  ideas  follow  one  another  because  they  are 
felt  to  be  in  contiguity,  that  is  near  to  one  another, 


28  INTRODUCTION 

either  near  in  time,  as  in  the  narrative  portions,  or  near 
in  thought.  The  influence  of  world  opinion  upon  ar- 
bitrary governments  (H-III)  is  near  in  thought  to  the 
preceding  topic,  the  desire  for  popular  government 
everywhere;  the  case  of  Greece  suggests  the  case  of  the 
states  of  South  America  (IV).  Thus  it  is  easy  to  ac- 
count for  the  position  of  each  topic  in  the  discussion 
and  to  find  a  reason  why  it  is  where  we  find  it. 

"We  notice  also  the  use  of  climax  in  the  arrangement 
of  the  divisions.  The  first  climax  is  reached  at  p.  78,  1. 
29 ;  the  second  at  p.  83, 1.  23 ;  the  third  at  the  close  of  the 
eulogy  of  La  Fayette,  p.  89,  1.  7;  the  fourth  at  p.  95, 
1.  33;  the  last  in  the  conclusion  of  the  speech.  The 
general  arrangement  is  in  accordance  with  the  usual 
principles  of  cause  and  effect,  similarity  and  contrast, 
and  contiguity. 

(2)  The  second  element  that  may  enter  into  the  body 
of  a  discourse  is  definition.  When  this  term  is  used 
most  people  think  only  of  the  kind  of  definition  that  is 
found  in  the  dictionaries,  a  single  sentence  giving  the 
meaning  of  a  term  in  other  words  that  are  likely  to 
be  better  understood,  a  sentence  that  puts  the  thing 
to  be  defined  into  its  proper  genus  or  class  and  then 
gives  its  difference  from  the  other  members  of  the 
class.  This  kind  of  formal  definition  is  almost  always 
necessary  in  argumentative  discourse,  especially  in  de- 
bate. Before  a  proposition  is  discussed  its  terms  must 
be  understood. 

But  the  word  definition  has  a  much  wider  meaning. 
It  means  all  those  processes  of  explanation,  illustration, 
and  example  that  set  the  limits  of  an  idea.  Lincoln's 
letter  to  Greeley  is  definitive  of  Lincoln's  policy ;  it  sets 
the  limits  of  that  policy  and  tells  both  what  it  includes 
and  what  it  does  not  include.  Definition  may  be  inci- 


INTRODUCTION  29 

dental  and  may  appear  in  a  discourse  wherever  it  is 
needed,  or  it  may  be  the  main  object  of  a  discourse  and 
may  dictate  the  method  of  dealing  with  the  whole  sub- 
ject. The  general  method  involved  in  a  definitive  dis- 
course is  the  method  of  inquiry  or  the  inductive  method. 
(3)  Narration,  description,  or  exposition  may 
also  enter  into  a  discourse.  Each,  like  the  ele- 
ment of  definition,  may  be  found  on  a  very  re- 
stricted scale,  in  one  place  in  the  discourse,  or 
may  be  scattered  through  the  discourse,  appearing 
wherever  it  is  needed;  and,  like  the  element  of  defini- 
tion, each  may  be  merely  incidental  or  may  dominate  the 
whole  discourse  and  determine  its  method.  Older  writ- 
ers conceived  of  the  narration  as  a  separate  and  distinct 
part  of  the  discourse,  immediately  following  the  exor- 
dium, or  introduction,  and  immediately  preceding  the 
formal  statement  of  the  partition  or  division.  They 
thought  of  it  as  a  preliminary  recital  of  facts  or  events 
which  must  be  understood  before  proof  and  refutation 
could  be  profitably  presented.  When  the  facts  or  events 
were  well  known,  the  narration  was4o  be  omitted.  The 
narration,  when  expressed,  was  to  be  persuasive ;  it  was 
to  foreshadow  the  proof  and  prepare  the  way  for  it,  but 
was  not  to  pretend  to  be  proof  itself.  In  modern  public 
address  we  find  this  procedure  still  common  and  neces- 
sary in  argumentative  discourse,  especially  in  debate; 
only  here,  in  most  cases,  the  narration  would  be  more 
accurately  called  the  description  or  the  exposition,  for 
it  both  recites  facts  and  explains  them.  If  the  proposi- 
tion refers  to  the  past,  some  historical  narrative  will 
be  unavoidable,  early  in  the  discussion.  A  present  day 
proposition  also  may  require  preliminary  narration,  de- 
scription, and  exposition.  Thus  the  proposition,  "The 
present  British  ministry  should  be  sustained  in  making 


30  INTKODUCTION 

the  taxation  of  land  values  a  part  of  its  1909  budget/* 
would  certainly  require  a  preliminary  description  of 
the  economic  conditions  in  England  that  make  new 
sources  of  revenue  necessary,  a  historical  narrative  show- 
ing what  have  been  the  customary  sources  of  revenue  in 
the  past,  a  definition  of  the  term  "taxation  of  land 
values/'  and  an  exposition  of  certain  principles  of  taxa- 
tion. In  the  words  of  the  older  writers  on  rhetoric  and 
oratory,  "The  present  state  of  tlie  question  must  be  made 
clear  by  narration  and  exposition"  The  second  para- 
graph of  "Webster's  Bunker  Hill  oration  performs  a 
function  analagous  to  that  of  the  narration  in  an  argu- 
mentative discourse ;  but  in  most  expository  addresses  the 
narration  is  not  concentrated  in  one  part  of  the  discourse. 
In  sermons  the  place  of  the  narration  is  supplied  by 
the  scripture  reading  that  precedes.  In  sermons  of  the 
traditional,  type  there  was  usually,  in  addition  to  this, 
an  explanation  of  doctrine,  definitive  in  character,  just 
before  the  partition  was  announced. 

What  is  a  single  feature  of  one  address  may  be  the 
entire  substance  of  another:  some  addresses  are  essen- 
tially all  narration,  description,  or  exposition.  The 
eulogy,  for  example,  may  be  in  its  fundamental  struc- 
ture a  narration.  Superimposed  upon  this  narration 
there  will  be  a  mass  of  description  and  exposition,  the 
purpose  of  which  is  character  interpretation.  The  bio- 
graphical sketch  preceding  an  appreciation  of  character 
is  narration  and  description  combined.  If  interpreted 
as  standing  in  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect  to 
the  work  and  influence  of  the  life,  it  precisely 
fulfills  the  function  of  the  narration  in  an  argumenta- 
tive discourse.*  In  most  expository  addresses,  however, 
narration,  description,  definition,  and  explanation  are 
*See  also  p.  138. 


INTKODUCTION  31 

scattered  through  the  discourse.  Thus  in  Webster's 
Bunker  Hill  address,  the  narrative  is  not  all  given  in 
the  second  paragraph;  after  the  first  climax  there  are 
two  pages  of  narrative  (p.  78,  1.  30— p.  80,  1.  18)  that 
furnish  the  basis  of  the  address  to  the  survivors.  On 
p.  83,  1.  24  begins  another  section  of  the  narration 
covering  more  than  three  pages,  leading  up  to  the  ad- 
dress to  LaFayette.  Indeed,  after  every  one  of  Web- 
ster's climaxes  the  discourse  is  resumed  on  the  narra- 
tive plane. 

But  the  chief  use  of  the  narrative  and  descriptive 
parts  of  an  expository  address  is  to  furnish  the  neces- 
sary amplification  of  the  principal  ideas  of  the  dis- 
course. Typical  means  of  amplification  are  necessarily 
resorted  to  in  every  expository  discourse.  One  of  these 
is  repetition  of  an  idea  in  other  words.  This  is  espe- 
cially necessary  when  the  idea  is  not  liked,  or  is 
somewhat  difficult  of  apprehension,  or,  being  essential, 
is  to  be  made  emphatic.  Instances  abound  in  Wash- 
ington's Farewell  Address.  A  case  in  point  is  the 
passage  on  page  43,  lines  2  to  18.  The  idea  of  respect 
for  the  Federal  Government  is  repeated  in  almost 
every  sentence;  £nd  from  line  19  to  line  34,  on  page  43, 
the  repetition  is  made  by  presenting  the  contrary  of  this 
idea,  by  dwelling  upon  the  things  that  mean  disrespect 
for  the  government. 

Another  of  the  means  of  amplification  is  enumeration. 
After  declaring  that  every  portion  of  our  country  has 
motives  to  guard  the  Union  of  the  whole,  Washington 
enumerates  in  one  paragraph  (p.  39,  1.  30)  the  special 
motives  that  should  act  upon  the  North,  the  South,  the 
East,  and  the  West.  A  third  means  of  amplification 
is  the  use  of  example.  Washington  refers  (p.  42,  11.  9 
to  20)  to  the  treaty  with  Spain  and  to  that  with  Eng- 


32  INTRODUCTION 

lan<;l  as  examples  of  the  nation-wide  and  non-sectional 
policy  of  the  general  government.  The  relative  amount 
of  amplification  devoted  to  different  ideas  indicates  their 
relative  importance. 

(4)  A  fourth  element  that  may  enter  into  the  body 
of  an  address  is  proof  and  refutation.  In  an  argumen- 
tative discourse  it  is  naturally  the  chief  element.  But 
it  may  enter  into  a  discourse  of  the  expository  type  as 
an  ancillary  or  subsidiary  element.  Thus  in  Washing- 
ton's Farewell  Address  the  section  on  "the  baneful 
effects  of  the  spirit  of  party"  (p.  45,  1.  6— p.  46,  1.  23) 
is  clearly  argumentative.  Party  spirit  should  be  re- 
pressed in  a  republic 'because  (a)  it  means  a  revengeful 
despotism  of  the  victorious  faction  over  the  defeated 
faction,  (b)  the  despotism  of  factions  alternately  in 
power  leads  to  intolerable  disorders  and  miseries,  (c) 
and  these  may  incline  men  finally  to  seek  security  by 
setting  up  an  individual  despot,  (d)  even  though  it 
does  not  go  so  far  as  this,  it  enfeebles  the  public  admin- 
istration, (e)  foments  insurrection,  and  (f)  opens  the 
door  to  foreign  interference.  This  also  illustrates  the 
kind  of  proof  called  the  chain  of  reasoning  from  cause 
to  effect. 

Another  kind  of  proof  is  the  specific  instance.  The 
specific  instances  of  disorder,  insurrection,  govern- 
mental embarrassment,  foreign  interference  sup- 
ported by  domestic  faction,  were  too  recent  to  require 
mention:  they  were  matters  of  common  knowledge. 
The  appeal  to  common  knowledge  or  to  universal  ex- 
experience  is  often  offered  in  this  way  as  a  substitute  for 
specific  instances.  One  form  of  this  appeal  is  the 
proverb  and  the  maxim. 

Instead  of,  or  in  addition  to,  the  specific  instances 
cited  or  the  common  knowledge  appealed  to,  reference 
may  be  made  to  the  testimony  of  individuals  or  to  the 


INTRODUCTION  33 

authority  of  books  or  of  experts.  It  is  usually  necessary 
in  employing  this  argument — the  argument  from  au- 
thority— to  show  that  the  authority  quoted  is  competent 
to  speak  to  the  point  in  issue,  is  disinterested  and  un- 
prejudiced and  entirely  worthy  of  confidence.  The  argu- 
ment derived  from  what  we  know  of  human  nature, 
which  Washington  employs  repeatedly  in  the  Farewell 
Address,  is  a  common  form  of  the  argument  from  cause 
to  effect. 

The  order  in  which  arguments  shall  be  arranged  must 
be  determined  anew  for  every  address.  Each  address 
has  its  own  logic,  its  own  natural  order,  and  the  re- 
quirements of  coherence  are  supreme.  The  advice  is 
often  given,  not  to  place  a  weak  argument  first;  but 
there  is  really  no  good  place  for  a  weak  argument;  a 
weak  argument  will  not  knowingly  be  used  at  all  if  a 
speaker  discovers  its  weakness  in  time.  The  subject 
itself,  the  form  of  statement  which  the  proposition 
takes,  will  always  suggest  some  logical  order  for  the  ar- 
gument, and  this  order  will  in  general  be  the  best  and 
the  most  economical.  But  this  order  may  be  modified 
to  meet  the  state  of  mind  of  the  audience.  It  is  well, 
for  instance,  to  begin  with  an  argument  with  which 
people  are  familiar;  rather  than  with  one  that  has 
been  developed  by  research.  It  is  well  to  begin  with 
an  argument  that  can  be  dealt  with  briefly,  conclusively 
and  simply,  rather  than  with  one  that  requires  nicety 
of  distinction  and  extended  reasoning.  It  is  well  to 
close  with  the  argument  that  the  speaker  himself  values 
most.  But  all  of  these  suggestions  must  give  way 
in  favor  of  logic  and  coherence. 

The  work  of  refutation  is  as  important  as  the  work 
of  affirmation  or  direct  proof.  It  consists  not  merely 
in  replying,  to  arguments  that  have  actually  been  ad- 


34  INTRODUCTION 

vanced,  but  also  in  considering  unspoken  objections  that 
naturally  suggest  themselves.  An  argument  is  refuted 
either  by  disproving  the  fact  on  which  it  is  based,  or 
by  disproving  the  inference  that  has  been  drawn  from 
the  fact.  When  the  fact  is  admitted  to  be  true  and  the 
inference  drawn  from  it  is  true  in  part,  and  false  in  part, 
the  refutation  is  effected  by  pointing  out  the  distinction 
as  Washington  does  (p.  46,  11.  9-23)  in  admitting  the 
advantage  of  party  spirit  in  a  monarchy  but  denying  its 
advantage  in  a  republic.  It  does  not  follow  (non 
sequitur),  he  says,  that  because  party  spirit  is  useful  in 
Europe,  it  should  be  encouraged  in  America. 

3.  The  Conclusion.  One  purpose  of  the  conclusion  is 
to  sum  up  in  brief  the  whole  matter  that  has  been  dis- 
cussed. In  an  argumentative  discourse  the  summary 
will  often  be  bare  and  formal,  recalling  in  order  the 
points  argued  in  the  discussion.  In  an  expository  dis- 
course the  summary  will  not  be  made  as  an  exact  repeti- 
tion, but  will  be  presented  with  some  variation  and  ad- 
dition. Another  purpose  of  the  conclusion  is  to  afford 
opportunity  for  a  final  appeal  to  the  feelings.  Here,  if 
anywhere,  the  audience  is  prepared  to  receive  such  an 
appeal.  The  conclusion  of  Lincoln's  First  Inaugural 
(pp.  113-114)  is  highly  persuasive  partly  on  account  of 
the  introduction  of  the  prophetic  element  and  the  ele- 
ment of  faith  in  the  supremacy  of  man's  better  impulses. 
An  apt  quotation  often  does  this  work  most  effectively. 
The  conclusion  should  be  brief  and  direct.  It  should  be 
closely  related  in  thought  and  spirit  to  the  thought  and 
spirit  of  the  whole  discourse. 


FAREWELL  ADDRESS 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON 

•  FRIENDS  AND  FELLOW  CITIZENS — The  period  for  a 
new  election  of  a  citizen,  to  administer  the  executive 
government  of  the  United  States,  being  not  far  dis- 
tant, and  the  time  actually  arrived,  when  your  thoughts 

5  must  be  employed  in  designating  the  person  who  is  to 
be  clothed  with  that  important  trust,  it  appears  to  me 
proper,  especially  as  it  may  conduce  to  a  more  distinct 
expression  of  the  public  voice,  that  I  should  now  apprize 
you  of  the  resolution  I  have  formed,  to  decline  being 

10  considered  among  the  number  of  those,  out  of  whom  a 
choice  is  to  be  made. 

i  I  beg  you,  at  the  same  time,  to  do  me  the  justice  to 
be  assured,  that  this  resolution  has  not  been  taken 
without  a  strict  regard  to  all  the  considerations  apper- 

15  taining  to  the  relation,  which  binds  a  dutiful  citizen 
to  his  country;  and  that,  in  withdrawing  the  tender 
of  service,  which  silence  in  my  situation  might  imply, 
I  am  influenced  by  no  diminution  of  zeal  for  your 
future  interest;  no  deficiency  of  grateful  respect  for 

20  your  past  kindness ;  but  am  supported  by  a  full  convic- 
tion that  the  step  is  compatible  with  both. 
'  The  acceptance  of,  and  continuance  hitherto  in,  the 
office  to  which  your  suffrages  have  twice  called  me,  have 
been  a  uniform  sacrifice  of  inclination  to  the  opinion 

25  of  duty,  and  to  a  deference  for  what  appeared  to  be 
your  desire.  I  constantly  hoped,  that  it  would  have 

35 


36  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEK,  LINCOLN 

been  much  earlier  in  my  power,  consistently  with  mo- 
tives, which  I  was  not  at  liberty  to  disregard,  to  return 
to  that  retirement,  from  which  I  had  been  reluctantly 
drawn.  The  strength  of  my  inclination  to  do  this, 
previous  to  the  last  election,  had  even  led  to  the  prepara-  5 
tion  of  an  address  to  declare  it  to  you ;  but  mature 
reflection  on  the  then  perplexed  and  critical  posture  of 
our  affairs  with  foreign  nations,  and  the  unanimous 
advice  of  persons  entitled  to  my  confidence,  impelled* 
me  to  abandon  the  idea.  10 

*/•  I  rejoice,  that  the  state  of  your  concerns,  external  as 
well  as  internal,  no  longer  renders  the  pursuit  of  in- 
clination incompatible  with  the  sentiment  of  duty,  or 
propriety;  and  am  persuaded,  whatever  partiality  may 
be  retained  for  my  services,  that,  in  the  present  circum- 15 
stances  of  our  country,  you  will  not  disapprove  my 
determination  to  retire. 

S  The  impressions,  with  which  I  first  undertook  the 
arduous  trust,  were  explained  on  the  proper  occasion. 
In  the  discharge  of  this  trust,  I  will  only  say,  that  I  20 
have,  with  good  intentions,  contributed  towards  the 
organization  and  administration  of  the  government  the 
best  exertions  of  which  a  very  fallible  judgment  was 
capable.  Xot  unconscious  in  the  outset,  of  the  inferi- 
ority of  my  qualifications,  experience  in  my  own  eyes,  25 
perhaps  still  more  in  the  eyes  of  others,  has  strength- 
ened the  motives  to  diffidence  of  myself,  and  every  day 
the  increasing  weight  of  years  admonishes  me  more  and 
more,  that  the  shade  of  retirement  is  as  necessary  to 
me  as  it  will  be  welcome.  Satisfied,  that,  if  any  cir-  30 
cumstances  have  given  peculiar  value  to  my  services, 
they  were  temporary,  I  have  the  consolation  to  believe, 
that,  while  choice  and  prudence  invite  me  to  quit  the 
political  scene,  patriotism  does  not  forbid  it. 


FAEEWELL  ADDKESS  37 

.  In  looking  forward  to  the  moment,  which  is  intended 
to  terminate  the  career  of  my  public  life,  my  feelings 
do  not  permit  me  to  suspend  the  deep  acknowledgment 
of  that  debt  of  gratitude,  which  I  owe  to  my  beloved 

5  country  for  the  many  honors  it  has  conferred  upon  me ; 
still  more  for  the  steadfast  confidence  with  which  it  has 
supported  me;  and  for  the  opportunities  I  have  thence 
enjoyed  of  manifesting  my  inviolable  attachment,  by 
services  faithful  and  persevering,  though  in  usefulness 

o  unequal  to  my  zeal.  If  benefits  have  resulted  to  our 
country  from  these  services,  let  it  always  be  remembered 
to  your  praise,  and  as  an  instructive  example  in  our 
annals,  that  under  circumstances  in  which  the  pas- 
sions, agitated  in  every  direction,  were  liable  to  mis- 

5  lead,  amidst  appearances  sometimes  dubious,  vicissitudes 
of  fortune  often  discouraging,  in  situations  in  which 
not  unfrequently  want  of  success  has  countenanced  the 
spirit  of  criticism,  the  constancy  of  your  support  was 
the  essential  prop  of  the  efforts,  and  a  guarantee  of  the 

0  plans  by  which  they  were  effected.  Profoundly  pene- 
trated with  this  idea,  I  shall  carry  it  with  me  to  my 
grave,  as  a  strong  incitement  to  unceasing  vows  that 
Heaven  may  continue  to  you  the  choicest  tokens  of  its 
beneficence ;  that  your  union  and  brotherly  affection  may 

s  l)e  perpetual,  that  the  free  constitution,  which  is  the 
work  of  your  hands,  may  be  sacredly  maintained,  that 
its  administration  in  every  department  may  be  stamped 
with  wisdom  and  virtue;  that,  in  fine,  the  happiness 
of  the  people  of  these  states,  under  the  auspices  of  lib- 

o  erty,  may  be  made  complete,  by  so  careful  a  preserva- 
tion and  so  prudent  a  use  of  this  blessing,  as  will  acquire 
to  them  the  glory  of  recommending  it  to  the  applause, 
the  affection,  and  adoption  of  every  nation,  which  is 
yet  a  stranger  to  it. 


38  WABH-LNWTUtt,   VV.ti.Bi3T.Utf,  L,li\LUL.JN 

Here,  perhaps,  I  ought  to  stop.  But  a  solicitude  for 
your  welfare,  which  cannot  end  but  with  my  life,  and 
the  apprehension  of  danger,  natural  to  that  solicitude, 
urge  me,  on  an  occasion  like  the  present,  to  offer  to 
your  solemn  contemplation,  and  to  recommend  to  your  5 
frequent  review,  some  sentiments,  which  are  the  result 
of  much  reflection,  of  no  inconsiderable  observation,  and 
which  appear  to  me  all-important  to  the  permanency  of 
your  felicity  as  a  people.  These  will  be  offered  to  you 
with  the  more  freedom,  as  you  can  only  see  in  them  10 
the  disinterested  warnings  of  a  parting  friend,  who  can 
possibly  have  no  personal  motive  to  bias  his  counsel. 
Nor  can  I  forget,  as  an  encouragement  to  it,  your  indul- 
gent reception  of  my  sentiments  on  a  former  and  not 
dissimilar  occasion.  ^15 

/v- Interwoven  as  is  the  love  of  liberty  with  every  liga- 
y/ment  of  your  hearts,  no  recommendation  of  mine  is 
t/   necessary  to  fortify  or  confirm  the  attachment.. 

The  unity  of  government,  which  constitutes  you  one 
people,  is  also  now  dear  to  you.  It  is  justly  so,  for  it  is  zo 
a  main  pillar  in  the  edifice  of  your  real  independence,' 
the  support  of  your  tranquillity  at  home,  your  peace 
abroad,  of  your  safety;  of  your  prosperity;  of  that  very 
liberty,  which  you  so  highly  prize.  But  as  it  is  easy  to 
foresee,  that,  from  different  causes  and  from  different  25 
quarters,  much  pains  will  be  taken,  many  artifices  em- 
ployed, to  weaken  in  your  minds  the  conviction  of  this 
truth;  as  this  is  the  point  in  your  political  fortress 
against  which  the  batteries  of  internal  and  external 
enemies  will  be  most  constantly  and  actively  (though  30 
often  covertly  and  insidiously)  directed,  it  is  of  infinite 
moment  that  you  should  properly  estimate  the  immense 
value  of  your  national  union  to  your  collective  and 
individual  happiness ;  that  you  should  cherish  a  cordial, 


39 

habitual,  and  immovable  attachment  to  it ;  accustoming 
yourselves  to  think  and  speak  of  it  as  of  the  palladium 
of  your  political  safety  and  prosperity ;  watching  for  its 
preservation  with  jealous  anxiety;  discountenancing 
whatever  may  suggest  even  a  suspicion,  that  it  can  in 
any  event  be  abandoned;  and  indignantly  frowning 
upon  the  first  dawning  of  every  attempt  to  alienate 
any  portion  of  our  country  from  the  rest,  or  to  enfeeble 
the  sacred  ties  which  now  link  together  the  various 
parts. 

/  <a  For  this  you  have  every  inducement  of  sympathy  and 
interest.  Citizens,  by  birth  or  choice,  of  a  common 
country,  that  country  has  a  right  to  concentrate  your 
affections.  The  name  of  American,  which  belongs  to 
you,  in  your  national  capacity,  must  always  exalt  the 
just  pride  of  patriotism,  more  than  any  appellation  de- 
rived from  local  discriminations.  With  slight  shades  of 
difference,  you  have  the  same  religion,  manners,  habits, 
and  political  principles.  You  have  in  a  common  cause 
fought  and  triumphed  together;  the  independence  and 
liberty  you  possess  are  the  work  of  joint  counsels,  and 
joint  efforts,  of  common  dangers,  sufferings,  and  suc- 
cesses. 

/'  But  these  considerations,  however  powerfully  they 
address  themselves  to  your  sensibility,  are  greatly  out- 
weighed by  those  which  apply  more  immediately  to  your 
interest.  Here  every  portion  of  our  country  finds  the 
most  commanding  motives  for  carefully  guarding  and 
preserving  the  union  of  the  whole. 

The  North,  in  an  unrestrained  intercourse  with  the 
South,  protected  by  the  equal  laws  of  a  common  govern- 
ment, finds  in  the  productions  of  the  latter,  great  addi- 
tional resources  of  maritime  and  commercial  enterprise 
and  precious  materials  of  manufacturing  industry.  The 


40  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTER,  LINCOLN 

South,  in  the  same  intercourse,  benefiting  by  the  agency 
of  the  North,  sees  its  agriculture  grow  and  its  commerce 
expand.     Turning  partly   into   its   own   channels   the 
seamen  of  the  North,  it  finds  its  particular  navigation 
invigorated ;  and,  while  it  contributes,  in  different  ways,  s 
to  nourish  and  increase  the  general  mass  of  the  national 
navigation,  it  looks  forward  to  the  protection  of  a  mari- 
time strength,  to  which  itself  is  unequally  adapted.  The 
East,  in  a  like  intercourse  with  the  West,  already  finds, 
and  in  the  progressive  improvement  of  interior  commu- 10 
nications  by  land  and  water,  will  more  and  more  find, 
a  valuable  vent  for  the  commodities  which  it  brings 
from  abroad,  or  manufactures  at  home.    The  West  de- 
rives from  the  East  supplies  requisite  to  its  growth  and 
comfort,  and,  what  is  perhaps  of  still  greater  conse- 15 
quence,  it  must  of  necessity  owe  the  secure  enjoyment 
of  indispensable  outlets  for  its  own  productions  to  the 
weight,  influence,  and  the  future  maritime  strength  of 
the  Atlantic  side  of  the  Union,  directed  by  an  indis- 
soluble community  of  interest  as  one  nation.    Any  other  20 
tenure  by  which  the  West  can  hold  this  essential  advan- 
tage, whether  derived  from  its  own  separate  strength, 
or  from  an  apostate  and  unnatural  connexion  with  any 
foreign  power,  must  be  intrinsically  precarious. 
^While,  then,  every  part  of  our  country  thus  feels  anas 
immediate  and  particular  interest  in  union,  all  the  parts 
combined  cannot  fail  to   find  in  the  united  mass  of 
means  and  efforts  greater  strength,  greater  resource, 
proportionably  greater  security  from  external  danger,  a 
less  frequent  interruption  of  their  peace  by  foreign  so 
nations;  and,  what  is  of  inestimable  value,  they  must 
derive  from  union  an  exemption  from  those  broils  and 
wars   between   themselves,   which   so   frequently   afflict 
neighboring  countries  not  tied  together  by  the  same 


FAEEWELL  ADDRESS  41 

governments,  which  their  own  rivalships  alone  would  be 
sufficient  to  produce,  but  which  opposite  foreign  alli- 
ances, attachments,  and  intrigues  would  stimulate  and 
embitter.  Hence,  likewise,  they  will  avoid  the  necessity 

>  of  those  overgrown  military  establishments,  which, 
under  any  form  of  government,  are  inauspicious  to 
liberty,  and  which  are  to  be  regarded  as  particularly 
hostile  to  republican  liberty.  In  this  sense  it  is,  that 
your  union  ought  to  be  considered  as  a  main  prop  of 

i  your  liberty,  and  that  the  love  of  the  one  ought  to 
endear  to  you  the  preservation  of  the  other. 
n  These  considerations  speak  a  persuasive  language  to 
every  reflecting  and  virtuous   mind,  and   exhibit  the 
continuance  of  the  Union  as  a  primary  object  of  patri- 

»  otic  desire.  Is  there  a  doubt  whether  a  common  gov- 
ernment can  embrace  so  large  a  sphere  ?  Let  experience 
solve  it.  To  listen  to  mere  speculation  in  such  a  case 
were  criminal.  We  are  authorized  to  hope,  that  a  proper 
organization  of  the  whole,  with  the  auxiliary  agency  of 

i  governments  for  the  respective  subdivisions,  will  afford 
a  happy  issue  to  the  experiment.  It  is  well  worth  a 
fair  and  full  experiment.  With  such  powerful  and 
obvious  motives  to  union,  affecting  all  parts  of  our 
country,  while  experience  shall  not  have  demonstrated 

i  its  impracticability,  there  will  always  be  reason  to  dis- 
trust the  patriotism  of  those,  who  in  any  quarter  may 
endeavor  to  weaken  its  bands. 

In  contemplating  the  causes  which  may  disturb  our 
Union,  it  occurs  as  matter  of  serious  concern,  that  any 

i  ground  should  have  been  furnished  for  characterizing 
parties  by  geographical  discriminations,  Northern  and 
Southern,  Atlantic  and  Western ;  whence  designing  men 
may  endeavor  to  excite  a  belief  that  there  is  a  real  dif- _ 
ference  of  local  interests  and  views.     One  of  the 


42  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEE,  LINCOLN 

dients  of  party  to  acquire  influence,  within  particular 
districts,  is  to  misrepresent  the  opinions  and  aims  of 
other  districts.  You  cannot  shield  yourselves  too  much 
against  the  jealousies  and  heart-burnings,  which  spring 
from  these  misrepresentations ;  they  tend  to  render  alien  5 
to  each  -other  those,  who  ought  to  be  bound  together  by 
fraternal  affection.  The  inhabitants  of  our  western 
country  have  lately  had  a  useful  lesson  on  this  head; 
they  have  seen,  in  the  negotiation  by  the  Executive,  and 
in  the  unanimous  ratification  by  the  Senate,  of  the  10 
treaty  with  Spain,  and  in  the  universal  satisfaction  at 
that  event,  throughout  the  United  States,  a  decisive 
proof  how  unfounded  were  the  suspicions  propagated 
among  them  of  a  policy  in  the  General  Government  and 
in  the  Atlantic  States  unfriendly  to  their  interests  in  15 
regard  to  the  Mississippi;  they  have  been  witnesses  to 
the  formation  of  two  treaties,  that  with  Great  Britain, 
and  that  with  Spain,  which  secure  to  them  every  thing 
they  could  desire,  in  respect  to  our  foreign  relations, 
towards  confirming  their  prosperity.  Will  it  not  be  20 
their  wisdom  to  rely  for  the  preservation  of  these  advan- 
tages on  the  Union  by  which  they  were  procured  ?  Will 
they  not  henceforth  be  deaf  to  those  advisers,  if  such 
there  are,  who  would  sever  them  from  their  brethren 
and  connect  them  with  aliens  ?  25 

To  the  efficacy  and  permanency  of  your  Union,  a 
Government  for  the  whole  is  indispensable.     N"o  alli- 
ances, however  strict,  between  the  parts  can  be  an  ade- 
quate substitute;  they  must  inevitably  experience  the 
infractions  and  interruptions,  which  all  alliances  in  all  so 
times  have  experienced.     Sensible  of  this  momentous 
.  truth,  you  have  improved  upon  your  first  essay,  by  the 
adoption  of  a  Constitution  of  Government  better  calcu- 
lated than  your  former  for  an  intimate  Union,  and  for 


AUDKESS  43 

the  efficacious  management  of  your  common  concerns. 
This  Government,  the  offspring  of  our  own  choice,  unin- 
fluenced and  unawed,  adopted  upon  full  investigation 
and  mature  deliberation,  completely  free  in  its  princi- 

i  pies,  in  the  distribution  of  its  powers,  uniting  security 
with  energy,  and  containing  within  itself  a  provision 
for  its  own  amendment,  has  a  just  claim  to  your  confi- 
dence and  your  support.  Eespect  for  its  authority,  com- 
pliance with  its  laws,  acquiescence  in  its  measures,  are 

i  duties  enjoined  by  the  fundamental  maxims  of  true 
Liberty.  The  basis  of  our  political  systems  is  the  right 
of  the  people  to  make  and  to  alter  their  constitutions 
of  government.  But  the  constitution  which  at  any  time 
exists,  till  changed  by  an  explicit  and  authentic  act  of 
the  whole  people,  is  sacredly  obligatory  upon  all.  The 
very  idea  of  the  power  and  the  right  of  the  people  to 
establish  Government  presupposes  the  duty  of  every  indi- 
vidual to  obey  the  established  Government. 

All  obstructions  to  the  execution  of  the  laws,  all  com- 
binations and  associations,  under  whatever  plausible 
character,  with  the  real  design  to  direct,  control,  coun- 
teract, or  awe  the  regular  deliberation  and  action  of 
the  constituted  authorities,  are  destructive  of  this  funda- 
mental principle,  and  of  fatal  tendency.  They  serve  to 
organize  faction,  to  give  it  an  artificial  and  extraordi- 
nary force;  to  put,  in  the  place  of  the  delegated  will  of 
the  nation,  the  will  of  a  party,  often  a  small  but  artful 
and  enterprising  minority  of  the  community;  and, 
according  to  the  alternate  triumphs  of  different  parties, 
to  make  the  public  administration  the  mirror  of  the  ill- 
concerted  and  incongruous  projects  of  faction,  rather 
than  the  organ  of  consistent  and  wholesome  plans 
digested  by  common  counsels,  and  modified  by  mutual 
interests. 


However  combinations  or  associations  of  the  above 
description  may  now  and  then  answer  popular  ends,  they 
are  likely,  in  the  course  of  time  and  things,  to  become 
potent  engines,  by  which  cunning,  ambitious,  and  un- 
principled men  will  be  enabled  to  subvert  the  power  of  5 
the  people,  and  to  usurp  for  themselves  the  reins  of 
government;  destroying  afterwards  the  very  engines 

'  which  have  lifted  them  to  unjust  dominion. 

Towards  the  preservation  of  your  government,  and 
the  permanency  of  your  present  happy  state,  it  is  requi- 10 
site,  not  only  that  you  steadily  discountenance  irregular 
oppositions  to  its  acknowledged  authority,  but  also  that 
you  resist  with  care  the  spirit  of  innovation  upon  its 
principles,  however  specious  the  pretexts.  One  method 
of  assault  may  be  to  effect,  in  the  forms  of  the  constitu- 15 
tion,  alterations,  which  will  impair  the  energy  of  the 
system,  and  thus  to  undermine  what  cannot  be  directly 
overthrown.  In  all  the  changes  to  which  you  may  be 
invited,  remember  that  time  and  habit  are  at  least  as 
necessary  to  fix  the  true  character  of  governments,  as  20 

.  of  other  human  institutions ;  that  experience  is  the 
surest  standard,  by  which  to  test  the  real  tendency  of 
the  existing  constitution  of  a  country;  that  facility  in 
changes,  upon  the  credit  of  mere  hypothesis  and  opinion, 
exposes  to  perpetual  change,  from  the  endless  variety  25 
of  hypothesis  and  opinion;  and  remember,  especially, 
that,  for  the  efficient  management  of  your  common  in- 
terests, in  a  country  so  extensive  as  ours,  a  government 
of  as  much  vigor  as  is  consistent  with  the  perfect 
security  of  liberty  is  indispensable.  Liberty  itself  will  30 
find  in  such  a  government,  with  powers  properly  dis- 
tributed and  adjusted,  its  surest  guardian.  It  is,  indeed, 
little  else  than  a  name,  where  the  government  is  too 
feeble  to  withstand  the  enterprises  of  faction,  to  confine 


FAREWELL  ADDEESS  45 

each  member  of  the  society  within  the  limits  prescribed 
by  the  laws,  and  to  maintain  all  in  the  secure  and 
tranquil  enjoyment  of  the  rights  of  person  and  property.^- 
|  tyl  have  already  intimated  to  you  the  danger  of  parties 
in  the  state,  with  particular  reference  to  the  founding 
of  them  on  geographical  discriminations.  Let  me 
now  take  a  more  comprehensive  view,  and  warn  you  in 
the  most  solemn .  manner  against  the  baneful  effects  of 
the  spirit  of  party,  generally. 

This  spirit,  unfortunately,  is  inseparable  from  our 
nature,  having  its  root  in  the  strongest  passions  of  the 
human  mind.  It  exists  under  different  shapes  in  all 
governments,  more  or  less  stifled,  controlled,  or  re- 
pressed ;  but,  in  those  of  the  popular  form,  it  is  seen  in 
its  greatest  rankness,  and  is  truly  their  worst  enemy. 
1  The  alternate  domination  of  one  faction  over  another, 
sharpened  by  the  spirit  of  revenge,  natural  to  party 
dissension,  which  in  different  ages  and  countries  has 
perpetrated  the  most  horrid  enormities,  is  itself  a  fright- 
ful despotism.  But  this  leads  at  length  to  a  more  formal 
and  permanent  despotism.  The  disorders  and  miseries, 
which  result,  gradually  incline  the  minds  of  men  to 
seek  security  and  repose  in  the  absolute  power  of  an 
individual;  and  sooner  or  later  the  chief  of  some  pre- 
vailing faction,  more  able  or  more  fortunate  than  his 
competitors,  turns  this  disposition  to  the  purposes  of 
his  own  elevation,  on  the  ruins  of  public  liberty. 

Without  looking  forward  to  an  extremity  of  this 
kind  (which  nevertheless  ought  not  to  be  entirely  out 
of  sight),  the  common  and  continual  mischiefs  of  the 
spirit  of  party  are  sufficient  to  make  it  the  interest  and 
duty  of  a  wise  people  to  discourage  and  restrain  it. 

It  serves  always  to  distract  the  public  councils,  and 
enfeeble  the  public  administration.  It  agitates  the 


46  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEE,  LINCOLN 

community  with  ill-founded  jealousies  and  false  alarms ; 
kindles  the  animosity  of  one  part  against  another, 
foments  occasionally  riot  and  insurrection.  It  opens 
the  door  to  foreign  influence  and  corruption,  which 
find  a  facilitated  access  to  the  government  itself  through  5 
the  channels  of  party  passions.  Thus  the  policy  and  the 
will  of  one  country  are  subjected  to  the  policy  and  will 
of  another. 

There  is  an  opinion,  that  parties  in  free  countries 
are  useful  checks  upon  the  administration  of  the  govern- 10 
ment,  and  serve  to  keep  alive  the  spirit  of  liberty.    This 
within  certain  limits  is  probably  true;  and  in  govern- 
ments of  a  monarchical  cast,  patriotism  may  look  with 
indulgence,  if  not  with  favor,  upon  the  spirit  of  party. 
But  in  those  of  the  popular  character,  in  governments  is 
purely  elective,  it  is  a  spirit  not  to  be  encouraged.    From 
their  natural  tendency,  it  is  certain  there  will  always  be 
enough  of  that  spirit  for  every  salutary  purpose.    And, 
there  being  constant  danger  of  excess,  the  effort  ought 
to  be,  by  force  of  public  opinion,  to  mitigate  and  assuage  20 
it.     A  fire  not  to  be  quenched,  it  demands  a  uniform 
vigilance  to  prevent  its  bursting  into  a  flame,  lest,  in- 
stead of  warming,  it  should  consume. 

It  is  important,  likewise,  that  the  habits  of  thinking 
in  a  free  country  should  inspire  caution,  in  those  in-  25 
trusted  with  its  administration,  to  confine  themselves 
within  their  respective  constitutional  spheres,  avoiding 
in  the  exercise  of  the  powers  of  one  department  to 
encroach  upon  another.  The  spirit  of  encroachment 
tends  to  consolidate  the  powers  of  all  the  departments  so 
in  one,  and  thus  to  create,  whatever  the  form  of  govern- 
ment, a  real  despotism.  A  just  estimate  of  that  love  of 
power,  and  proneness  to  abuse  it,  which  predominates 
in  the  human  heart,  is  sufficient  to  satisfy  us  of  the 


FAEEWELL  ADDRESS  47 

truth  of  this  position.  The  necessity  of  reciprocal  checks 
in  the  exercise  of  political  power,  by  dividing  and  dis- 
tributing it  into  different  depositories,  and  constituting 
each  the  guardian  of  the  public  weal  against  invasions 
5  by  the  others,  has  been  evinced  by  experiments  ancient 
and  modern;  some  of  them  in  our  country  and  under 
our  own  eyes.  To  preserve  them  must  be  as  necessary 
as  to  institute  them.  If,  in  the  opinion  of  the  people, 
the  distribution  or  modification  of  the  constitutional 

10  powers  be  in  any  particular  wrong,  let  it  be  corrected 
by  an  amendment  in  the  way  which  the  constitution 
designates.  But  let  there  be  no  change  by  usurpation; 

.  for,  though  this,  in  one  instance,  may  be  the  instrument 
of  good,  it  is  the  customary  weapon  by  which  free  gov- 

15  ernments  are  destroyed.  The  precedent  must  always 
greatly  overbalance  in  permanent  evil  any  partial  or 
transient  benefit,  which  the  use  can  at  any  time  yield.  ' 

Of  all  the   dispositions   and  habits,   which  lead  to 
political  prosperity,  religion  and   morality  are   indis- 

20  pensable  supports.  In  vain  would  that  man  claim  the 
tribute  of  patriotism,  who  should  labor  to  subvert  these 
great  pillars  of  human  happiness,  these  firmest  props  of 
the  duties  of  men  and  citizens.  The  mere  politician, 
equally  with  the  pious  man,  ought  to  respect  and  cherish— 

25  them.  A  volume  could  not  trace  all  their  connexions 
with  private  and  public  felicity.  Let  it  simply  be  asked, 
Where  is  the  security  for  property,  for  reputation,  for 
life,  if  the  sense  of  religious  obligation  desert  the  oaths, 
which  are  the  instruments  of  investigation  in  courts  of 

80  justice  ?  And  let  us  with  caution  indulge  the  supposi- 
tion, that  morality  can  be  maintained  without  religion. 
"Whatever  may  be  conceded  to  the  influence  of  refined 
education  on  minds  of  peculiar  structure,  reason  and 
experience  both  forbid  us  to  expect,  that  national 


48  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTER,  LINCOLN 

morality  can  prevail  in  exclusion  of  religious  principle. 

It  is  substantially  true,  that  virtue  or  morality  is  a 
necessary  spring  of  popular  government.  The  rule,  in- 
deed, extends  with  more  or  less  force  to  every  species, 
of  free  government.  Who,  that  is  a  sincere  friend  to  it,  5 
can  look  with  indifference  upon  attempts  to  shake  the 
foundation  of  the  fabric? 

Promote,  then,  as  an  object  of  primary  importance, 
institutions  for  the  general  diffusion  of  knowledge.    In 
proportion  as  the  structure  of  a  government  gives  force  10 
to  public  opinion,  it  is  essential  that  public  opinion  ^ 
should  be  enlightened. 

As  a  very  important  source  of  strength  and  securit}', 
cherish  public  credit.  One  method  of  preserving  it  is, 
to  use  it  as  sparingly  as  possible ;  avoiding  occasions  of  15 
expense  by  cultivating  peace,  but  remembering  also  that 
timely  disbursements  to  prepare  for  danger  frequently 
prevent  much  greater  disbursements  to  repel  it;  avoid- 
ing likewise  the  accumulation  of  debt,  not  only  by  shun- 
ning occasions  of  expense,  but  by  vigorous  exertion  in  20 
time  of  peace  to  discharge  the  debts,  which  unavoidable 
wars  may  have  occasioned  not  ungenerously  throwing 
upon  posterity  the  burden  which  we  ourselves  ought  to 
.bear.  The  execution  of  these  maxims  belongs  to  your 
representatives,  but  it  is  necessary  that  public  opinion  25 
should  co-operate.  To  facilitate  to  them  the  perform- 
ance of  their  duty,  it  is  essential  that  you  should  prac- 
tically bear  in  mind,  that  towards  the  payment  of  debts 
there  must  be  revenue;  that  to  have  revenue  there  must 
be  taxes ;  that  no  taxes  can  be  devised  which  are  not  3D 
more  or  less  inconvenient  and  unpleasant;  that  the 
intrinsic  embarrassment,  inseparable  from  the  selection 
of  the  proper  objects  (which  is  always  a  choice  of  diffi- 
culties), ought  to  be  a  decisive  motive  for  a  candid  con- 


FAREWELL  ADDRESS  49 

struction  of  the  conduct  of  the  government  in  making 
it,  and  for  a  spirit  of  acquiescence  in  the  measures  for 
obtaining  revenue,  which  the  public  exigencies  may  at 
any  time  dictate. 

5  Observe  good  faith  and  justice  towards  all  nations; 
cultivate  peace  and  harmony  with  all.     Religion  and 
morality  enjoin  this  conduct;  and  can  it  be,  that  good 
policy  does  not  equally  enjoin  it  ?    It  will  be  worthy  of 
a  free,  enlightened,  and  at  no  distant  period,  a  great 

10  rration,  to  give  to  mankind  the  magnanimous  and  .too 
novel  example  of  a  people  always  guided  by  an  exalted 
justice  and  benevolence.  Who  can.  doubt,  that  in  the 
course  of  time  and  things,  the  fruits  of  such  a  plan 
would  richly  repay  any  temporary  advantages,  which 

[5  might  be  lost  by  a  steady  adherence  to  it?  Can  it  be 
that  Providence  has  not  connected  the  permanent  felicity 
of  a  nation  with  its  virtue?  The  experiment,  at  least, 
is  recommended  by  every  sentiment  which  ennobles 
human  nature.  Alas !  is  it  rendered  impossible  by  its 

>o  vices  ? 

I  In  the  execution  of  such  a  plan,  nothing  is  more  essen- 
tial, than  that  permanent,  inveterate  antipathies  against 
particular  nations,  and  passionate  attachments  for 
others,  should  be  excluded ;  and  that,  in  place  of  them, 

>5  just  and  amicable  feelings  towards  all  should  be  culti- 
vated. The  nation,  which  indulges  towards  another  an 
habitual  hatred,  or  an  habitual  fondness,  is  in  some 
degree  a  slave.  It  is  a  slave  to  its  animosity  or  to  its 
affection,  either  of  Which  is  sufficient  to  lead  it  astray 

6  from  its. duty  and  its  interest.    Antipathy  in  one  nation 
against  another  disposes  each  more  readily  to  offer  insult 
and  injury,  to  lay  hold  of  slight  causes  of  umbrage, 
and  to  be  haughty  and  intractable,  when  accidental  or 
trifling  occasions  of  dispute  occur.    Hence,  frequent  col- 


50  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEE,  LINCOLN 

lisions,  obstinate,  envenomed,  and  bloody  contests.  The 
nation,  prompted  by  ill-will  and  resentment,  sometimes 
impels  to  war  the  Government,  contrary  to  the  best  cal- 
culations of  policy.  The  Government  sometimes  partici- 
pates in  the  national  propensity,  and  adopts  through  5! 
passion  what  reason  would  reject;  at  other  times,  it 
makes  the  animosity  of  the  nation  subservient  to  projects 
of  hostility  instigated  by  pride,  ambition,  and  other 
sinister  and  pernicious  motives.  The  peace  often,  some- 
times perhaps  the  liberty,  of  nations  has  been  the  victim.  10' 

So  likewise,  a  passionate  attachment  of  one  nation 
for  another  produces  a  variety  of  evils.  Sympathy  for 
the  favorite  nation,  facilitating  the  illusion  of  an  imag- 
inary common  interest  in  cases  where  no  real  common 
interest  exists,  and  infusing  into  one  the  enmities  of  15 
the  other,  betrays  the  former  into  a  participation  in  the 
quarrels  and  wars  of  the  latter,  without  adequate  in- 
ducement or  justification.  It  leads  also  to  concessions 
to  the  favorite  nation  of  privileges  denied  to  others, 
which  is  apt  doubly  to  injure  the  nation  making  the  20 
concessions;  by  unnecessarily  parting  with  what  ought 
to  have  been  retained;  and  by  exciting  jealousy,  ill-will, 
and  a  disposition  to  retaliate,  in  the  parties  from  whom 
equal  privileges  are  withheld.  And  it  gives  to  ambi- 
tious, corrupted,  or  deluded  citizens  (who  devote  them-  25 
selves  to  the  favorite  nation),  facility  to  betray  or  sacri- 
fice the  interests  of  their  own  country,  without  odium, 
sometimes  even  with  popularity;  gilding,  with  the  ap- 
pearances of  a  virtuous  sense  of  obligation,  a  commend- 
able deference  for  public  opinion,  or  a  laudable  zeal  for  so 
public  good,  the  base  or  foolish  compliances  of  ambi- 
tion, corruption  or  infatuation. 

As  avenues  to  foreign  influence  in  innumerable  ways, 
such  attachments  are  particularly  alarming  to  the  truly 


51 

enlightened  and  independent  patriot.  How  many  op- 
portunities do  they  afford  to  tamper  with  domestic  fac- 
tions, to  practice  the  arts  of  seduction,  to  mislead  public 
opinion,  to  influence  or  awe  the  public  councils !  Such 

5  an  attachment  of  a  small  or  weak,  towards  a  great  and 
powerful  nation,  dooms  the  former  to  be  the  satellite 
of  the  latter. 

Against  the  insidious  wiles  of  foreign  influence   (I 
conjure  you  to  believe  me,  fellow-citizens),  the  jealousy 

10  of  a  free  people  ought  to  be  constantly  awake,  since  his- 
tory and  experience  prove  that  foreign  influence  is  one 
of  the  most  baneful  foes  of  republican  government.  But 
that  jealousy,  to  be  useful,  must  be  impartial;  else  it 
becomes  the  instrument  of  the  very  influence  to  be 

15  avoided,  instead  of  a  defence  against  it.  Excessive  par- 
tiality for  one  foreign  nation,  and  excessive  dislike  of 
another,  cause  those  whom  they  actuate  to  see  danger 
only  on  one  side,  and  serve  to  veil  and  even  second  the 
arts  of  influence  on  the  other.  Eeal  patriots  who  may 

20  resist  the  intrigues  of  the  favorite,  are  liable  to  become 
suspected  and  odious;  while  its  tools  and  dupes  usurp 
the  applause  and  confidence  of  the  people,  to  surrender 
their  interests. 

The  great  rule  of  conduct  for  us,  in  regard  to  foreign 

25  nations,  is,  in  extending  our  commercial  relations,  to 

have  with  them  as  little  political  connexion  as  possible. 

So  far  as  we  have  already  formed  engagements,  let  them 

be  fulfilled  with  perfect  good  faith.     Here  let  us  stop. 

.  Europe  has  a  set  of  primary  interests,  which  to  us 

so  have  none,  or  a  very  remote  relation.  Hence  she  must 
be  engaged  in  frequent  controversies,  the  causes  of 
which  are  essentially  foreign  to  our  concerns.  Hence, 
therefore,  it  must  be  unwise  in  us  to  implicate  ourselves, 
by  artificial  ties,  in  the  ordinary  vicissitudes  of  her 


52  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTER,  LINCOLN 

politics,  or  the  ordinary  combinations  and  collisions  of 
her  friendships  or  enmities. 

Our  detached  and  distant  situation  invites  and  enables 
us  to  pursue  a  different  course.  If  we  remain  one  peo- 
ple, under  an  efficient  government,  the  period  is  not  far  5 
off  when  we  may  defy  material  injury  from  external  an- 
noyance; when  we  may  take  such  an  attitude  as  will 
cause  the  neutrality,  we  may  at  any  time  resolve  upon, 
to  be  scrupulously  respected;  when  belligerent  nations, 
under  the  impossibility  of  making  acquisitions  upon  us,  10 
will  not  lightly  hazard  the  giving  us  provocation ;  when 
we  may  choose  peace  or  war,  as  our  interest,  guided  by 
justice,  shall  counsel. 

Why  forego  the  advantages  of  so  peculiar  a  situation  ? 
Why  quit  our  own  to  stand  upon  foreign  ground  ?  Why,  15 
by  interweaving  our  destiny  with  that  of  any  part  of 
Europe,  entangle  our  peace  and  prosperity  in  the  toils 
of  European  ambition,  rivalship,  interest,  humor  or 
caprice?  - 

It  is  our  true  policy  to  steer  clear  of  permanent  alii-  20 
ances  with  any  portion  of  the  foreign  world;  so  far,  I 
mean,  as  we  are  now  at  liberty  to  do  it;   for  let  me  not 
be  understood  as  capable  of  patronizing  infidelity  to 
existing  engagements.     I  hold  the  maxim  no  less  appli- 
cable to  public  than  to  private  affairs,  that  honesty  is  25 
always  the  best  policy.     I  repeat  it,  therefore,  let  those 
engagements  be  observed  in  their  genuine  sense.     But, 
in  my  opinion,  it  is  unnecessary  and  would  be  unwise 
to  extend  them. 

Taking  care   always  to  keep  ourselves,  by  suitable  so 
establishments,  on  a  respectable  defensive  posture,  we 
may  safely  trust  to  temporary  alliances   for  extraor- 
dinary emergencies. 

Harmony,   liberal   intercourse  with   all  nations,   are 


FAREWELL  ADDRESS  53 

recommended  by  policy,  humanity,  and  interest.  But 
even  our  commercial  policy  should  hold  an  equal  and 
impartial  hand ;  neither  seeking  nor  granting  exclusive 
favors  or  preferences;  consulting  the  natural  course  of 

5  things;  diffusing  and  diversifying  by  gentle  means  the 
streams  of  commerce,  but  forcing  nothing;  establishing, 
with  powers  so  disposed,  in  order  to  give  trade  a  stable 
course,  to  define  the  rights  of  our  merchants,  and  to 
enable  the  government  to  support  them,  conventional 

10  rules  of  intercourse,  the  best  that  present  circumstances 
and  mutual  opinion  will  permit,  but  temporary,  and 
liable  to  be  from  time  to  time  abandoned  or  varied,  as 
experience  and  circumstances  shall  dictate;  constantly 
keeping  in  view,  that  it  is  folly  in  one  nation  to  look 

15  for  disinterested  favors  from  another ;  that  it  must  pay 
with  a  portion  of  its  independence  for  whatever  it  may 
accept  under  that  character ;  that,  by  such  acceptance,  it 
may  place  itself  in  the  condition  of  having  given  equival- 
ents for  nominal  favors,  and  yet  of  being  reproached 

20  with  ingratitude  for  not  giving  more.     There  can  be  no 
greater  error  than  to  expect  or  calculate  upon  real  favors 
from  nation  to  nation.     It  is  an  illusion,  which  experi- 
ence must  cure,  which  a  just  pride  ought  to  discard. 
In  offering  to  you,  my  countrymen,  these  counsels  of 

25  an  old  and  affectionate  friend,  I  dare  not  hope  they  will 
make  the  strong  and  lasting  impression  I  could  wish ; 
that  they  will  control  the  usual  current  of  the  passions, 
or  prevent  our  nation  from  running  the  course,  which 
has  hitherto  marked  the  destiny  of  nations.  But,  if  I 

so  may  even  flatter  myself,  that  they  may  be  productive  of 
some  partial  benefit,  some  occasional  good;  that  they 
may  now  and  then  recur  to  moderate  the  fury  of  party 
spirit,  to  warn  against  the  mischiefs  of  foreign  intrigue, 
to  guard  against  the  impostures  of  pretended  patriot- 


54:  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEB,  LINCOLN 

ism;  this  hope  will  be  a  full  recompense  for  the  solici- 
tude for  your  welfare,  by  which  they  have  been  dictated. 

How  far  in  the  discharge  of  my  official  duties,  I  have 
been  guided  by  the  principles  which  have  been  de- 
lineated, the  public  records  and  other  evidences  of  my  5 
conduct  must  witness  to  you  and  to  the  world.  To  my- 
self, the  assurance  of  my  own  conscience  is,  that  I  have 
at  least  believed  myself  to  be  guided  by  them. 

In  relation  to  the  still  subsisting  war  in  Europe,  my 
proclamation  of  the  22d  of  April,  1793,  is  the  index  of  10 
my  plan.  Sanctioned  by  your  approving  voice,  and  by 
that  of  your  Eepresentatives  in  both  Houses  of  Congress, 
the  spirit  of  that  measure  has  continually  governed  me, 
uninfluenced  by  any  attempts  to  deter  or  divert  me 
from  it.  15 

After  deliberate  examination,  with  the  aid  of  the  best 
lights  I  could  obtain,  I  was  well  satisfied  that  our  coun- 
try, under  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  had  a  right 
to  take,  and  was  bound  in  duty  and  interest  to  take,  a 
neutral  position.  Having  taken  it,  I  determined,  as  far  20 
as  should  depend  upon  me,  to  maintain  it,  with  modera- 
tion, perseverance  and  firmness. 

The  considerations  which  respect  the  right  to  hold 
this  conduct,  it  is  not  necessary  on  this  occasion  to  de- 
tail. I  will  only  observe,  that,  according  to  my  under-  25 
standing  of  the  matter,  that  right,  so  far  from  being 
denied  by  any  of  the  belligerent  powers,  has  been  virtu- 
ally admitted  by  all. 

The  duty  of  holding  a  neutral  conduct  may  be  in- 
ferred, without  any  thing  more,  from  the  obligation  so 
which  justice  and  humanity  impose  on  every  nation,  in 
cases  in  which  it  is  free  to  act,  to  maintain  inviolate  the 
relations  of  peace  and  amity  towards  other  nations. 

The  inducements  of  interest  for  observing  that  con- 


FAEEWELL  ADDKESS  55 

duct  will  best  be  referred  to  your  own  reflections  and 
experience.  With  me  a  predominant  motive  has  been 
to  endeavor  to  gain  time  to  our  country  to  settle  and 
mature  its  yet  recent  institutions,  and  to  progress  with- 

5  out  interruption  to  that  degree  of  strength  and  consist- 
ency, which  is  necessary  to  give  it,  humanly  speaking, 
tb"  command  of  its  own  fortunes. 

Though,  in  reviewing  the  incidents  of  my  administra- 
tion, I  am  unconscious  of  intentional  error,  I  am  never- 

10  theless  too  sensible  of  my  defects  not  to  think  it  probable 
that  I  may  have  committed  many  errors.  Whatever 
they  may  be  I  fervently  beseech  the  Almighty  to  avert 
or  mitigate  the  evils  to  which  they  may  tend.  I  shall 
also  carry  with  me  the  hope,  that  my  country  will  never 

15  cease  to  view  them  with  indulgence ;  and  that,  after 
forty-five  years  of  my  life  dedicated  to  its  service  with 
an  upright  zeal,  the  faults  of  incompetent  abilities  will 
be  consigned  to  oblivion,  as  myself  must  soon  be  to  the 
mansions  of  rest. 

20  Belying  on  its  kindness  in  this  as  in  other  things,  and 
actuated  by  that  fervent  love  towards  it,  which  is  so 
natural  to  a  man,  who  views  in  it  the  native  soil  of  him- 
self and  his  progenitors  for  several  generations ;  I  antici- 
pate with  pleasing  expectation  that  retreat,  in  which  I 

25  promise  myself  to  realize,  without  alloy,  the  sweet  enjoy- 
ment of  partaking,  in  the  midst  of  my  fellow-citizens, 
the  benign  influence  of  good  laws  under  a  free  govern- 
ment, the  ever  favorite  object  of  my  heart,  and  the 
happy  reward,  as  I  trust,  of  our  mutual  cares,  labors, 

so  and  dangers. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 
United  States,  September  17tht  1796." 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  WASHINGTON 

DANIEL  WEBSTER 

A  speech  delivered  at  a  public  dinner  in  the  City  of  Wash- 
ington, February  22,  1832,  the  centennial  anniversary  of  Wash- 
ington's  birth. 

We  are  met  to  testify  our  regard  for  him  whose  name 
is  intimately  blended  with  whatever  belongs  most  essen- 
tially to  the  prosperity,  the  liberty,  the  free  institutions, 
and  the  renown  of  our  country.  That  name  was  of 
power  to  rally  a  nation,  in  the  hour  of  thick-thronging  5 
public  disasters  and  calamities;  that  name  shone,  amid 
the  storm  of  war,  a  beacon  light,  to  cheer  and  guide  the 
country's  friends ;  it  flamed,  too,  like  a  meteor,  to  repel 
her  foes.  That  name,  in  the  days  of  peace,  was  a  load- 
stone, attracting  to  itself  a  whole  people's  confidence,  a  10 
whole  people's  love,  and  the  whole  world's  respect.  That 
name,  descending  with  all  time,  spreading  over  the 
whole  earth,  and  uttered  in  all  the  languages  belonging 
to  the  tribes  and  races  of  men,  will  forever  be  pro- 
nounced with  affectionate  gratitude  by  every  one  in  15 
whose  breast  there  shall  arise  an  aspiration  for  human 
rights  and  human  liberty. 

We  perform  this  grateful  duty,  Gentlemen,  at  the  ex- 
piration of  a  hundred  years  from  his  birth,  near  the 
place,  so  cherished  and  beloved  by  him,  where  his  dust  20 
now  reposes,  and  in  the  capital  which  bears  his  own 
immortal  name. 

All  experience  evinces  that  human   sentiments  are 
strongly  influenced  by  associations.     The  recurrence  of 

56 


CHARACTEE  OF  WASHINGTON  57 

anniversaries,  or  of  longer  periods  of  time,  naturally 
freshens  the  recollection,  and  deepens  the  impression,  of 
events  with  which  they  are  historically  connected.  Re- 
nowned places,  also,  have  a  power  to  awaken  feeling, 
i  which  all  acknowledge.  No  American  can  pass  by  the 
fields  of  Bunker  Hill,  Monmouth,  and  Camden,  as  if 
they  were  ordinary  spots  on  the  earth's  surface.  Who- 
ever visits  them  feels  the  sentiment  of  love  of  country 
kindling  anew,  as  if  the  spirit  that  belonged  to  the  trans- 
.0  actions  which  have  rendered  these  places  distinguished 
still  hovered  round,  with  power  to  move  and  excite  all 
who  in  future  time  may  approach  them. 

But  neither  of  these  sources  of  emotion  equals  the 
power  with  which  great  moral  examples  affect  the  mind. 
5  When  sublime  virtues  cease  to  be  abstractions,  when 
they  become  embodied  in  human  character,  and  exempli- 
fied in  human  conduct,  we  should  be  false  to  our  own 
nature  if  we  did  not  indulge  in  the  spontaneous  effu- 
sions of  our  gratitude  and  our  admiration.  A  true 
o  lover  of  the  virtue  of  patriotism  delights  to  contemplate 
its  purest  models;  and  that  love  of  country  may  be  well 
suspected  which  affects  to  soar  so  high  into  the  regions 
of  sentiment  as  to  be  lost  and  absorbed  in  the  abstract 
feeling,  and  becomes  too  elevated  or  too  refined  to  glow 
5  with  fervor  in  the  commendation  or  the  love  of  individ- 
ual benefactors.  All  this  is  unnatural.  It  is  as  if  one 
should  be  so  enthusiastic  a  lover  of  poetry  as  to  care 
nothing  for  Homer  or  Milton;  so  passionately  attached 
to  eloquence  as  to  be  indifferent  to  Tully  and  Chat- 
to  ham ;  or  such  a  devotee  to  the  arts,  in  such  an  ecstasy 
with  the  elements  of  beauty,  proportion,  and  expression, 
as  to  regard  the  masterpieces  of  Raphael  and  Michael 
Angel o  with  coldness  or  contempt.  We  may  be  assured, 
Gentlemen,  that  he  who  really  loves  the  thing  itself. 


58  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEK,  LINCOLN 


loves  its  finest  exhibitions.     A  true  friend  of  his  coun- 
try loves  her  friends  and  benefactors,  and  thinks  it  no 
degradation  to  commend  and  commemorate  them.     The 
voluntary  outpouring  of  the  public  feeling,  made  to-day, 
from  the  north  to  the  south,  and  from  the  east  to  the  5 
west,  proves  this  sentiment  to  be  both  just  and  natural. 
In  the  cities  and  in  the  villages,  in  the  public  temples 
and  in  the  family  circles,  among  all  ages  and  sexes, 
gladdened  voices  to-day  bespeak  grateful  hearts  and  a 
freshened  recollection  of  the  virtues  of  the  Father  of  his  10 
Country.     And  it  will  be  so,  in  all  time  to  come,  so 
long  as  public  virtue  is  itself  an  object  of  regard.     The 
ingenuous  youth  of  America  will  hold  up  to  themselves 
the  bright  model  of  Washington's  example,  and  study 
to  be  what  they  behold ;  they  will  contemplate  his  char-  15 
acter  till  all  its  virtues  spread  out  and  display  them- 
selves to  their  delighted  vision  as  the  earliest  astrono 
mers,  the  shepherds  on  the  plains  of  Babylon,  gazed  at 
the  stars  till  they  saw  them  form  into  clusters  and  con- 
stellations,   overpowering   at   length   the    eyes    of   the  20 
beholders  with  the  united  blaze  of  a  thousand  lights. 

Gentlemen,  we  are  at  a  point  of  a  century  from  the 
birth  of  Washington ;  and  what  a  century  it  has  been ! 
During  its  course,  the  human  mind  has  seemed  to  pro- 
ceed with  a  sort  of  geometric  velocity,  accomplishing  for  25 
human  intelligence  and  human  freedom  more  than  had. 
been  done  in  fives  or  tens  of  centuries  preceding.  Wash- 
ington stands  at  the  commencement  of  a  new  era,  as 
well  as  at  the  head  of  the  New  World.  A  century  from 
the  birth  of  Washington  has  changed  the  world.  The  30 
country  of  Washington  has  been  the  theatre  on  which  a 
great  part  of  that  change  has  been  wrought,  and  Wash- 
ington himself  a  principal  agent  by  which  it  has  been 


CHAEACTEE  OF  WASHINGTON  59 

accomplished.  His  age  and  his  country  are  equally  full 
of  wonders ;  and  of  both  he  is  the  chief. 

If  the  poetical  prediction,  uttered  a  few  years  before 
his  birth,  be  true ;  if  indeed  it  be  designed  by  Providence 
that  the  grandest  exhibition  of  human  character  and 
human  affairs  shall  be  made  on  this  theatre  of  the  West- 
ern world ;  if  it  be  true  that, 

"The  four  first  acts  already  past; 

A  fifth  shall  close  the  drama  with  the  day; 
D  Time's  noblest  offspring  is  the  last"; 

how  could  this  imposing,  swelling,  final  scene  be  appro- 
priately opened,  how  could  its  intense  interest  be  ade- 
quately sustained,  but  by  the  introduction  of  just  such  a 
character  as  our  Washington? 

5  Washington  had  attained  his  manhood  when  that 
spark  of  liberty  was  struck  out  in  his  own  country 
which  has  since  kindled  into  a  flame  and  shot  its  beams 
over  the  earth.  In  the  flow  of  a  century  from  his  birth, 
the  world  has  changed  in  science,  in  arts,  in  the  extent 

)  of  commerce,  in  the  improvement  of  navigation,  and  in 
all  that  relates  to  the  civilization  of  man.  But  it  is 
the  spirit  of  human  freedom,  the  new  elevation  of 
individual  man,  in  his  moral,  social,  and  political  char- 
acter, leading  the  whole  long  train  of  other  improve- 

5  ments,  which  has  most  remarkably  distinguished  the  era. 
Society,  in  this  century,  has  not  made  its  progress,  like 
Chinese  skill,  by  a  greater  acuteness  of  ingenuity  in 
trifles;  it  has  not  merely  lashed  itself  to  an  increased 
speed  round  the  old  circles  of  thought  and  action ;  but  it 

D  has  assumed  a  new  character;  it  has  raised  itself  from 
beneath  governments  to  a  participation  in  governments; 
it  has  mixed  moral  and  political  objects  with  the  daily 
pursuits  of  individual  men;  and,  with  a  freedom  and 


60  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEE,  LINCOLN 

strength  before  altogether  unknown,  it  has  applied  to 
these  objects  the  whole  power  of  the  human  understand- 
ing.    It  has  been  the  era,  in  short,  when  the  social  prin- 
ciple has  triumphed  over  the  feudal  principle;  when   ] 
society  has  maintained  its  rights  against  military  power,  5 
and  established,  on  foundations  never  hereafter  to  be 
shaken,  its  competency  to  govern  itself. 

It  was  the  extraordinary  fortune  of  Washington,  that,   I 
having  been  intrusted,  in  revolutionary  times,  with  the  1 
supreme  military  command,  and  having  fulfilled  that  if 
trust  with  equal  renown  for  wisdom  and  for  valor,  he    j 
should  be  placed  at  the  head  of  the  first  government  in 
which  an  attempt  was  to  be  made  on  a  large  scale  to 
rear  the  fabric  of  social  order  on  the  basis  of  a  written  ] 
constitution  and  of  a  pure  representative  principle.     A  is 
government  was  to  be  established,  without  a   throne,  1 
without  an  aristocracy,  without  castes,  orders,  or  privi- 
leges; and  this  government,  instead  of  being  a  democ- 
racy existing  and  acting  within  the  walls  of  a  single 
city,  was  to  be  extended  over  a  vast  country  of  different  20 
climates,  interests,  and  habits,  and  of  various  commun- 
ions of  our  common  Christian  faith.     The  experiment 
certainly  was  entirely  new.     A  popular  government  of 
this  extent,  it  was  evident,  could  be  framed  only  by 
carrying  into  full  effect  the  principle  of  representation  25 
or  of  delegated  power ;  and  the  world  was  to  see  whether  • 
society  could,  by  the  strength  of  this  principle,  maintain 
its  own  peace  and  good  government,  carry  forward  its 
own  great  interests,  and  conduct  itself  to  political  re- 
nown and  glory.     By  the  benignity  of  Providence,  this  so 
experiment,  so  full  of  interest  to  us  and  to  our  posterity 
forever,  so  full  of  interest,  indeed,  to  the  world  in  its 
present  generation  and  in  all  its  generations  to  come, 
was  suffered  to  commence  under  the  guidance  of  Wash- 


CHAKACTER  OF  WASHINGTON  61 

ington.  Destined  for  this  high  career,  he  was  fitted  for 
it  by  wisdom,  by  virtue,  by  patriotism,  by  discretion,  by 
whatever  can  inspire  confidence  in  man  toward  man. 
In  entering  on  the  untried  scenes,  early  disappointment 
and  the  premature  extinction  of  all  hope  of  success 
would  have  been  certain,  had  it  not  been  that  there  did 
exist  throughout  the  country,  in  a  most  extraordinary 
degree,  an  unwavering  trust  in  him  who  stood  at  the 
helm. 

I  remarked,  Gentlemen,  that  the  whole  world  was  and 
is  interested  in  the  result  of  this  experiment.  And  is  it 
not  so?  Do  we  deceive  ourselves,  or  is  it  true  that  at 
this  moment  the  career  which  this  government  is  run- 
ning is  among  the  most  attractive  objects  to  the  civilized 

5  world  ?  Do  we  deceive  ourselves,  or  is  it  true  that  at 
this  moment  that  love  of  liberty  and  that  understanding 
of  its  true  principles  which  are  flying  over  the  whole 
earth,  as  on  the  wings  of  all  the  winds,  are  really  and 
truly  of  American  origin  ? 

»  At  the  period  of  the  birth  of  Washington  there  existed 
in  Europe  no  political  liberty  in  large  communities,  ex- 
cept in  the  provinces  of  Holland,  and  except  that  Eng- 
land herself  had  set  a  great  example,  so  far  as  it  went, 
by  her  glorious  Revolution  of  1688.  Everywhere  else, 

»  despotic  power  was  predominant,  and  the  feudal  or  mili- 
tary principle  held  the  mass  of  mankind  in  hopeless 
bondage.  One-half  of  Europe  was  crushed  beneath  the 
Bourbon  sceptre,  and  no  conception  of  political  liberty, 
no  hope  even  of  religious  toleration,  existed  among  that 

» nation  which  was  America's  first  ally.  The  king  was 
the  state,  the  king  was  the  country,  the  king  was  all. 
There  was  one  king,  with  power  not  derived  from  his 
people,  and  too  high  to  be  questioned :  and  the  rest  were 
all  subjects,  with  no  political  right  but  obedience.  All 


62  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTER,  LINCOLN 

above  was  intangible  power,  all  below  quiet  subjection.  ? 
A  recent  occurrence  in  the  French  chamber  shows  us 
how  public  opinion  on  these  subjects  is  changed.       A 
minister  had  spoken  of  the  "king's  subjects."     "There 
are  no  subjects,"  exclaimed  hundreds  of  voices  at  once,  s 
"in  a  country  where  the  people  make  the  king !" 

Gentlemen,  the  spirit  of  human  liberty  and  of  free 
government,   nurtured   and   grown   into   strength   and 
beauty  in  America,  has  stretched  its  course  into  the 
midst  of  the  nations.     Like  an  emanation  from  Heaven,  11 
it  has  gone  forth,  and  it  will  not  return  void.     It  must 
change,  it  is  fast  changing,  the  face  of  the  earth.     Our  • 
great,  our  high  duty  is  to  show,  in  our  own  example, 
that  this  spirit  is  a  spirit  of  health  as  well  as  a  spirit  of  ' 
power ;  that    its  benignity  is  as  great  as  its  strength ;  15 
that  its  efficiency  to  secure  individual  rights,  social  rela- 
tions, and  moral  order,  is  equal  to  the  irresistible  force 
with  which  it  prostrates  principalities  and  powers.     The 
world,  at  this  moment,  is  regarding  us  with  a  willing,  = 
but  something  of  a  fearful  admiration.     Its  deep  and  * 
awful  anxiety  is  to  learn  whether  free  States  may  be 
stable,  as  well  as  free;  whether  popular  power  may  be 
trusted,  as  well  as  feared;  in  short,  whether  wise,  regu- 
lar, and  virtuous  self-government  is  a  vision  for  the 
contemplation  of  theorists,  or  a  truth  established,  illus- 
trated,  and  brought  into   practice   in  the  country   of 
Washington. 

Gentlemen,  for  the  earth  which  we  inhabit,  and  the 
whole  circle  of  the  sun,  for  all  the  unborn  races  of  man- 
kind, we  seem  to  hold  in  our  hands,  for  their  weal  or 
woe,  the  fate  of  this  experiment.  If  we  fail,  who  shall 
venture  the  repetition?  If  our  example  shall  prove  to 
be  one  not  of  encouragement,  but  of  terror,  not  fit  to  be 
imitated,  but  fit  only  to  be  shunned,  where  else  shall 


CHARACTER  OF  WASHINGTON  63 

the  world  look  for  free  models?  If  this  great  Western 
Sun  be  struck  out  of  the  firmament,  at  what  other  foun- 
tain shall  the  lamp  of  liberty  hereafter  be  lighted? 
What  other  orb  shall  emit  a  ray  to  glimmer,  even,  on 
the  darkness  of  the  world  ? 

There  is  no  danger  of  our  overrating  or  overstating 
the  important  part  which  we  are  now  acting  in  human 
affairs.  It  should  not  flatter  our  personal  self-respect, 
but  it  should  reanimate  our  patriotic  virtues,  and  inspire 

,0  us  with  a  deeper  and  more  solemn  sense  both  of  our 
privileges  and  of  our  duties  We  cannot  wish  better 
for  our  country,  nor  for  the  world,  than  that  the  same 

i    spirit  which  influenced  Washington  may  influence  all 

i    who  succeed  him;   and  that  the  same  blessing  from 

115  above,  which  attended  his  efforts,  may  also  attend  theirs. 
The  principles  of  Washington's   administration  are 

|  not  left  doubtful.  They  are  to  be  found  in  the  Consti- 
tution itself,  in  the  great  measures  recommended  and 
approved  by  him,  in  his  speeches  to  Congress,  and  in 

20  that  most  interesting  paper,  his  Farewell  Address  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States.  The  success  of  the  govern- 
ment under  his  administration  is  the  highest  proof  of 
the  soundness  of  these  principles.  And,  after  an  experi- 
ence of  thirty-five  years,  what  is  there  which  an  enemy 

25  could  condemn  ?  What  is  there  which  either  his 
friends,  or  the  friends  of  the  country,  could  wish  to  have 
been  otherwise?  I  speak,  of  course,  of  great  measures 
and  leading  principles. 

In  the  first  place,  all  his  measures  were  right  in  their 

so  intent.  He  stated  the  whole  basis  of  his  own  great 
character,  when  he  told  the  country,  in  the  homely 
phrase  of  the  proverb,  that  honesty  is  the  best  policy. 
One  of  the  most  striking  things  ever  said  of  him  is,  that 
"he  changed  mankind's  ideas  of  political  greatness." 


64 

To  commanding  talents,  and  to  success,  the  common  ele- 
ments of  such  greatness,  he  added  a  disregard  of  self, 
a  spotlessness  of  motive,  a  steady  submission  to  every 
public  and  private  duty,  which  threw  far  into  the  shade 
the  whole  crowd  of  vulgar  great.  The  object  of  his  s 
regard  was  the  whole  country.  No  part  of  it  was 
enough  to  fill  his  enlarged  patriotism.  His  love  of 
glory,  so  far  as  that  may  be  supposed  to  have  influenced 
him  at  all,  spurned  everything  short  of  general  appro- 
bation. It  would  have  been  nothing  to  him  that  his  10 
partisans  or  his  favorites  outnumbered,  or  outvoted,  or 
outmanaged,  or  outclamored,  those  of  other  leaders.  He 
had  no  favorites;  he  rejected  all  partisanship;  and,  act- 
ing honestly  for  the  universal  good,  he  deserved,  what 
he  has  so  richly  enjoyed,  the  universal  love.  15 

His  principle  it  was  to  act  right,  and  to  trust  the 
people  for  support;  his  principle  it  was  not  to  follow 
the  lead  of  sinister  and  selfish  ends,  nor  to  rely  on  the 
little  arts  of  party  delusion  to  obtain  public  sanction  for 
such  a  course.  Born  for  his  country  and  for  the  world,  20 
he  did  not  give  up  to  party  what  was  meant  for  man- 
kind. The  consequence  is,  that  his  fame  is  as  durable 
as  his  principles,  as  lasting  as  truth  and  virtue  them- 
selves. While  the  hundreds  whom  party  excitement, 
and  temporary  circumstances,  and  casual  combinations.  25 
have  raised  into  transient  notoriety,  sink  again,  like  thin 
bubbles,  bursting  and  dissolving  into  the  great  ocean, 
Washington's  fame  is  like  the  rock  which  bounds  that 
ocean,  and  at  whose  feet  its  billows  are  destined  to 
break  harmlessly  forever.  so 

The  maxims  upon  which  Washington  conducted  our 
foreign  relations  were  few  and  simple.  The  first  was  an 
entire  and  indisputable  impartiality  towards  foreign 
States.  He  adhered  to  this  rule  of  public  conduct, 


CHARACTEE  OF  WASHINGTON  65 

against  very  strong  inducements  to  depart  from  it,  and 
when  the  popularity  of  the  moment  seemed  to  favor  such 
a  departure.  In  the  next  place,  he  maintained  true 
dignity  and  unsullied  honor  in  all  communications  with 

5  foreign  States.  It  was  among  the  high  duties  devolved 
upon  him  to  introduce  our  new  government  into  the 
circle  of  civilized  States  and  powerful  nations.  Not 
arrogant  or  assuming,  with  no  unbecoming  or  super- 
cilious bearing,  he  yet  exacted  for  it  from  all  others 

10  entire  and  punctilious  respect.  He  demanded,  and  he 
obtained  at  once,  a  standing  of  perfect  equality  for  his 
country  in  the  society  of  nations ;  nor  was  there  a  prince 
or  potentate  of  his  day,  whose  personal  character  carried 
with  it,  into  the  intercourse  of  other  States,  a  greater 

15  degree  of  respect  and  veneration. 

He  regarded  other  nations  only  as  they  stood  in  politi- 
cal relations  to  us.  With  their  internal  affairs,  their 
political  parties  and  dissensions,  he  scrupulously 
abstained  from  all  interference ;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 

20  he  repelled  with  spirit  all  such  interference  by  others 
with  us  or  our  concerns.  His  sternest  rebuke,  the  most 
indignant  measure  of  his  whole  administration,  was 
aimed  against  such  an  attempted  interference.  He  felt 
it  as  an  attempt  to  wound  the  national  honor,  and  rf»- 

25  sented  it  accordingly. 

The  reiterated  admonitions  in  his  Farewell  Addre*r 
show  his  deep  fears  that  foreign  influence  would  insinu- 
ate itself  into  our  counsels  through  the  channels  of 
domestic  dissension,  and  obtain  a  sympathy  with  our 

so  own  temporary  parties.  Against  all  such  dangers  he 
most  earnestly  entreats  the  country  to  guard  itself.  He 
appeals  to  its  patriotism,  to  its  self-respect,  to  its  own 
honor,  to  every  consideration  connected  with  its  welfare 
and  happiness,  to  resist,  at  the  very  beginning,  all  ten- 


66  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTER,  LINCOLN 

dencies  towards  such  connection  of  foreign  interests 
with  our  own  affairs.  With  a  tone  of  earnestness  no- 
where else  found,  even  in  his  last  affectionate  farewell 
advice  to  his  countrymen,  he  says,  "Against  the  insidious 
wiles  of  foreign  influence,  (I  conjure  you  to  believe  me,  5 
fellow-citizens,)  the  jealousy  of  a  free  people  ought  to 
be  constantly  awake;  since  history  and  experience  prove 
that  foreign  influence  is  one  of  the  most  baneful  foes  of 
republican  government." 

Lastly,  on  the  subject  of  foreign  relations,  Washing- 10 
ton  never  forgot  that  we  had  interests  peculiar  to  our- 
selves.    The  primary  political  concerns  of  Europe,  he 
saw,  did  not  affect  us.    We  had  nothing  to  do  with  her 
balance  of  power,  her  family  compacts,  or  her  succes- 
sions to  thrones.     We  were  placed  in  a  condition  favor- 15 
able  to  neutrality  during  European  wars,  and  to  the 
enjoyment  of  all  the  great  advantages  of  that  relation. 
"Why,  then,"  he  asks  us,  "why  forego  the  advantages  of 
so  peculiar  a  situation?     Why  quit  our  own  to  stand 
upon  foreign  ground  ?     Why,  by  interweaving  our  des-  20 
tiny  with  that  of  any  part  of  Europe,  entangle  our  peace 
and  prosperity  in  the  toils  of  European  ambition,  rival- 
ship,  interest,  humor,  or  caprice  ?" 

Indeed,  Gentlemen,  Washington's  Farewell  Address  is 
full  of  truths  important  at  all  times,  and  particularly  25 
deserving  consideration  at  the  present.  With  a  sagacity 
which  brought  the  future  before  him,  and  made  it  like 
the  present,  he  saw  and  pointed  out  the  dangers  that 
even  at  this  moment  most  imminently  threaten  us.  I 
hardly  know  how  a  greater  service  of  that  kind  could  so 
now  be  done  to  the  community,  than  by  a  renewed  and 
wide  diffusion  of  that  admirable  paper,  and  an  earnest 
invitation  to  every  man  in  the  country  to  reperuse  and 
consider  it.  Its  political  maxims  are  invaluable;  its 


CHAEACTER  OF  WASHINGTON  67 

exhortations  to  love  of  country  and  to  brotherly  affec- 
tion among  citizens,  touching;  and  the  solemnity  with 
which  it  urges  the  observance  of  moral  duties,  and  im- 
presses the  power  of  religious  obligation,  gives  to  it  the 

5  highest  character  of  truly  disinterested,  sincere,  parental 
advice. 

The  domestic  policy  of  Washington  found  its  pole- 
star  in  the  avowed  objects  of  the  Constitution  itself. 
He  sought  so  to  administer  that  Constitution  as  to  form 

10  a  more  perfect  union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic 
tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common  defence,  promote 
the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty. 
These  were  objects  interesting,  in  the  highest  degree,  to 
the  whole  country,  and  his  policy  embraced  the  whole 

15  country. 

Among  his  earliest  and  most  important  duties  was 
the  organization  of  the  government  itself,  the  choice  of 
his  confidential  advisers,  and  the  various  appointments 
to  office.  This  duty,  so  important  and  delicate,  when  a 

20  whole  government  was  to  be  organized,  and  all  its  offices 
for  the  first  time  filled,  was  yet  not  difficult  to  him,  for 
he  had  no  sinister  ends  to  accomplish,  no  clamorous 
partisans  to  gratify,  no  pledges  to  redeem,  no  object  to 
be  regarded  but  simply  the  public  good.  It  was  a  plain, 

25  straightforward  matter,  a  mere  honest  choice  of  good 
men  for  the  public  service. 

His  own  singleness  of  purpose,  his  disinterested  patri- 
otism, were  evinced  by  the  selection  of  his  first  cabinet, 
and  by  the  manner  in  which  he  filled  the  seats  of  justice, 

so  and  other  places  of  high  trust.  He  sought  for  men  fit 
for  offices ;  not  for  offices  which  might  suit  men.  Above 
personal  considerations,  above  local  considerations,  above 
party  considerations,  he  felt  that  he  could  only  dis- 
charge the  sacred  trust  which  the  country  had  placed  in 


68  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEB,  LINCOLN 

his  hands,  by  a  diligent  inquiry  after  real  merit,  and  a 
conscientious  preference  of  virtue  and  talent.  The 
whole  country  was  the  field  of  his  selection.  He  ex- 
plored that  whole  field,  looking  only  for  whatever  it  con- 
tained most  worthy  and  distinguished.  He  was,  indeed,  5 
most  successful,  and  he  deserved  success  for  the  purity 
of  his  motives,  the  liberality  of  his  sentiments,  and  his 
enlarged  and  manly  policy. 

Washington's  administration  established  the  national 
credit,  made  provision  for  the  public  debt,  and  for  that  10 
patriotic  army  whose  interests  and  welfare  were  always 
so  dear  to  him;  and,  by  laws  wisely  framed,  and  of 
admirable  effect,  raised  the  commerce  and  navigation  of 
the  country,  almost  at  once,  from  depression  and  ruin 
to  a  state  of  prosperity.  Nor  were  his  eyes  open  to  15 
these  interests  alone.  He  viewed  with  equal  concern  its 
agriculture  and  manufactures,  and,  so  far  as  they  came 
within  the  regular  exercise  of  the  powers  of  this  govern- 
ment, they  experienced  regard  and  favor. 

It  should  not  be  omitted,  even  in  this  slight  reference  20 
to  the  general  measures  and  general  principles  of  the 
first  President,  that  he  saw  and  felt  the  full  value  and 
importance  of  the  judicial  department  of  the  govern- 
ment.    An  upright  and  able  administration  of  the  laws 
he  held  to  be  alike  indispensable  to  private  happiness  25 
and  public  liberty.     The  temple  of  justice,  in  his  opin- 
ion, was  a  sacred  place,  and  he  would  profane  and  pollute 
it  who  should  call  any  to  minister  in  it,  not  spotless  in 
character,  not  incorruptible  in  integrity,  not  competent 
by  talent  and  learning,  not  a  fit  object  of  unhesitating  x 
trust. 

Among  other  admonitions,  Washington  has  left  us,  in 
his  last  communication  to  his  country,  an  exhortation 
against  the  excesses  of  party  spirit.  A  fire  not  to  be 


CHARACTER  OF  WASHINGTON  69 

quenched,  he  yet  conjures  us  not  to  fan  and  feed  the 
flame.  Undoubtedly,  Gentlemen,  it  is  the  greatest  dan- 
ger of  our  system  and  of  our  time.  Undoubtedly,  if 
that  system  should  be  overthrown,  it  will  be  the  work  of 

5  excessive  party  spirit,  acting  on  the  government,  which 
is  dangerous  enough,  or  acting  in  the  government,  which 
is  a  thousand  times  more  dangerous;  for  government 
then  becomes  nothing  but  organized  party,  and,  in  the 
strange  vicissitudes  of  human  affairs,  it  may  come  at 

10  last,  perhaps,  to  exhibit  the  singular  paradox  of  govern- 
ment itself  being  in  opposition  to  its  own  powers,  at  war 
with  the  very  elements  of  its  own  existence.  Such  cases 
are  hopeless.  As  men  may  be  protected  against  murder, 
but  cannot  be  guarded  against  suicide,  so  government 

15  may  be  shielded  from  the  assaults  of  external  foes,  but 
nothing  can  save  it  when  it  chooses  to  lay  violent  hands 
on  itself. 

Finally,  Gentlemen,  there  was  in  the  breast  of  Wash- 
ington one  sentiment  so  deeply  felt,  so  constantly  upper- 

20  most,  that  no  proper  occasion  escaped  without  its  utter- 
ance. From  the  letter  which  he  signed  in  behalf  of  the 
Convention  when  the  Constitution  was  sent  out  to  the 
people,  to  the  moment  when  he  put  his  hand  to  that  last 
paper  in  which  he  addressed  his  countrymen,  the  Union, 

25  — the  Union  was  the  great  object  of  his  thoughts.  In 
that  first  letter  he  tells  them  that  to  him  and  his 
brethren  of  the  Convention,  union  appears  to  be  the 
greatest  interest  of  every  true  American;  and  in  that 
last  paper  he  conjures  them  to  regard  that  unity  of  gov- 

30  ernment  which  constitutes  them  one  people  as  the  very 
palladium  of  their  prosperity  and  safety,  and  the  secur- 
ity of  liberty  itself.  He  regarded  the  union  of  these 
States  less  as  one  of  our  blessings,  than  as  the  great 
treasure-house  which  contained  them  all.  Here,  in  his 


70  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTER,  LINCOLN 

judgment,  was  the  great  magazine  of  all  our  means  of 
prosperity ;  here,  as  he  thought,  and  as  every  true  Ameri- 
can still  thinks,  are  deposited  all  our  animating  pros- 
pects, all  our  solid  hopes  for  future  greatness.  He  has 
taught  us  to  maintain  this  union,  not  by  seeking  to  5 
enlarge  the  powers  of  the  government,  on  the  one  hand, 
nor  by  surrendering  them,  on  the  other;  but  by  an 
administration  of  them  at  once  firm  and  moderate,  pur- 
suing objects  truly  national,  and  carried  on  in  a  spirit 
of  justice  and  equity.  1C 

The  extreme  solicitude  for  the  preservation  of  the 
Union,  at  all  times  manifested  by  him,  shows  not  only 
the  opinion  he  entertained  of  its  importance,  but  his 
clear  perception  of  those  causes  which  were  likely  to 
spring  up  to  endanger  it,  and  which,  if  once  they  should  15 
overthrow  the  present  system,  would  leave  little  hope  of 
any  future  beneficial  reunion.  Of  all  the  presumptions 
indulged  by  presumptuous  man,  that  is  one  of  the  rash- 
est  which  looks  for  repeated  and  favorable  opportuni- 
ties for  the  deliberate  establishment  of  a  united  govern-  20 
ment  over  distinct  and  widely  extended  communities. 
Such  a  thing  has  happened  once  in  human  affairs,  and 
but  once ;  the  event  stands  out  as  a  prominent  exception 
to  all  ordinary  history ;  and  unless  we  suppose  ourselves 
running  into  an  age  of  miracles,  we  may  not  expect  its  25 
repetition. 

Washington,  therefore,  could  regard,  and  did  regard, 
nothing  as  of  paramount  political  interest  but  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  Union  itself.  With  a  united  government, 
well  administered,  he  saw  that  we  had  nothing  to  fear ;  30 
and  without  it,  nothing  to  hope.  The  sentiment  is  just, 
and  its  momentous  truth  should  solemnly  impress  the 
whole  country.  If  we  might  regard  our  country  as  per- 
sonated in  the  spirit  of  Washington,  if  we  might  con- 


CHAEACTEE  OF  WASHINGTON  71 

sider  him  as  representing  her,  in  her  past  renown,  her 
present  prosperity,  and  her  future  career,  and  as  in  that 
character  demanding  of  us  all  to  account  for  our  con- 
duct, as  political  men  or  as  private  citizens,  how  should 
5  he  answer  him  who  has  ventured  to  talk  of  disunion  and 
dismemberment?  Or  how  should  he  answer  him  who 
dwells  perpetually  on  local  interests,  and  fans  every 
kindling  flame  of  local  prejudice?  How  should  he 
answer  him  who  would  array  State  against  State,  inter- 

10  est  against  interest,  and  party  against  party,  careless  of 
the  continuance  of  that  unity  of  government  which  con- 
stitutes us  one  people  ? 

The  political  prosperity  which  this  country  has  at- 
tained, and  which  it  now  enjoys,  has  been  acquired 

15  mainly  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  present  gov- 
ernment. While  this  agent  continues,  the  capacity  of 
attaining  to  still  higher  degrees  of  prosperity  exists  also. 
We  have,  while  this  lasts,  a  political  life  capable  of 
beneficial  exertion,  with  power  to  resist  or  overcome 

20  misfortunes,  to  sustain  us  against  the  ordinary  accidents 
of  human  affairs,  and  to  promote,  by  active  efforts,  every 
public  interest.  But  dismemberment  strikes  at  the  very 
being  which  preserves  these  faculties.  It  would  lay  its 
rude  and  ruthless  hand  on  this  great  agent  itself.  It 

25  would  sweep  away,  not  only  what  we  possess,  but  all 
power  of  regaining  lost,  or  acquiring  new  possessions. 
It  would  leave  the  country  not  only  bereft  of  its  pros- 
perity and  happiness,  but  without  limbs,  or  organs,  or 
faculties,  by  which  to  exert  itself  hereafter  in  the  pur- 

30  suit  of  that  prosperity  and  happiness. 

Other  misfortunes  may  be  borne,  or  their  effects  over- 
come. If  disastrous  war  should  sweep  our  commerce 
from  the  ocean,  another  generation  may  renew  it;  if  it 
exhaust  our  treasury,  future  industry  may  replenish  it; 


72  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEE,  LINCOLN 

if  it  desolate  and  lay  waste  our  fields,  still,  under  a  new 
cultivation,  they  will  grow  green  again,  and  ripen  to 
future  harvests.  It  were  but  a  trifle  even  if  the  walls 
of  yonder  Capitol  were  to  crumble,  if  its  lofty  pillars 
should  fall,  and  its  gorgeous  decorations  be  all  covered  5 
by  the  dust  of  the  valley.  All  these  might  be  rebuilt. 
But  who  shall  reconstruct  the  fabric  of  demolished  gov- 
ernment? Who  shall  rear  again  the  well-proportioned 
columns  of  constitutional  liberty?  Who  shall  frame 
together  the  skilful  architecture  which  unites  national  10 
sovereignty  with  State  rights,  individual  security,  and 
public  prosperity?  No,  if  these  columns  fall,  they  will 
be  raised  not  again.  Like  the  Coliseum  and  the  Par- 
thenon, they  will  be  destined  to  a  mournful,  a  melan- 
choly immortality.  Bitterer  tears,  however,  will  flow  15 
over  them  than  were  ever  shed  over  the  monuments  of 
Roman  or  Grecian  art ;  for  they  will  be  the  remnants  of 
a  more  glorious  edifice  than  Greece  or  Rome  ever  saw, 
the  edifice  of  constitutional  American  liberty. 

But  let  us  hope  for  betters  things.     Let  us  trust  in  20 
that  gracious  Being  who  had  hitherto  held  our  country 
as  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand.     Let  us  trust  to  the  virtue 
and  the  intelligence  of  the  people,  and  to  the  efficacy 
of  religious  obligation.     Let  us  trust  to  the  influence  of 
Washington's  example.     Let  us  hope  that  that  fear  of  25 
Heaven  which  expels  all  other  fear,  and  that  regard  to 
duty  which  transcends  all  other  regard,  may  influence 
public  men  and  private  citizens,  and  lead  our  country 
still  onward  in  her  happy  career.     Full  of  these  gratify- 
ing anticipations  and  hopes,  let  us  look  forward  to  the  so 
end  of  that  century  which  is  now  commenced.     A  hun- 
dred years  hence,  other  disciples  of  Washington  will 
celebrate  his  birth,  with  no  less  of  sincere  admiration 
than  we  now  commemorate  it.     When  they  shall  meet, 


CHAKACTER  OF  WASHINGTON  73 

as  we  now  meet,  to  do  themselves  and  him  that  honor, 
so  surely  as  they  shall  see  the  blue  summits  of  his  native 
mountains  rise  in  the  horizon,  so  surely  as  they  shall 
behold  the  river  on  whose  banks  he  lived,  and  on  whose 
5  banks  he  rests,  still  flowing  on  toward  the  sea,  so  surely 
may  they  see,  as  we  now  see,  the  flag  of  the  Union  float- 
ing on  the  top  of  the  Capitol;  and  then,  as  now,  may 
the  sun  in  his  course  visit  no  land  more  free,  more 
happy,  more  lovely,  than  this  our  own  country ! 


THE  BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT 

DANIEL  WEBSTER 

An  address  delivered  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  at 
Charlestown,  Massachusetts,  June  17,  1825. 

This  uncounted  multitude  before  me  and  around  me 
proves  the  feeling  which  the  occasion  has  excited.  These 
thousands  of  human  faces,  glowing  with  sympathy  and 
joy,  and  from  the  impulses  of  a  common  gratitude 
turned  reverently  to  heaven  in  this  spacious  temple  of  5 
the  firmament,  proclaim  that  the  day,  the  place,  and  the 
purpose  of  our  assembling  have  made  a  deep  impression 
on  our  hearts.  * 

If,  indeed,  there  be  anything  in  local  association  fit 
to  affect  the  mind  of  man,  we  need  not  strive  to  repress  10 
the  emotions  which  agitate  us  here.  We  are  among  ihe 
sepulchres  of  our  fathers.  We  are  on  ground  distin- 
guished by  their  valor,  their  constancy,  and  the  shed- 
ding of  their  blood.  We  are  here,  not  to  fix  an  uncer- 
tain date  in  our  annals,  nor  to  draw  into  notice  an  is 
obscure  and  unknown  spot.  If  our  humble  purpose  had 
never  been  conceived,  if  we  ourselves  had  never  been 
born,  the  17th  of  June,  1775,  would  have  been  a  day  on 
which  all  subsequent  history  would  have  poured  its  light, 
and  the  eminence  where  we  stand  a  point  of  attraction  20 
to  the  eyes  of  successive  generations.  But  we  are  Ameri- 
cans. We  live  in  what  may  be  called  the  early  age  of 
this  great  continent;  and  we  know  that  our  posterity, 
through  all  time,  are  here  to  enjoy  and  suffer  the  allot- 
ments of  humanity.  We  see  before  us  a  probable  train  35 

74 


THE  BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT        75 

of  great  events;  we  know  that  our  own  fortunes  have 
been  happily  cast;  and  it  is  natural,  therefore,  that  we 
should  be  moved  by  the  contemplation  of  occurrences 
which  have  guided  our  destiny  before  many  of  us  were 
5  born,  and  settled  the  condition  in  which  we  should  pass 
that  portion  of  our  existence  which  God  allows  to  men 
on  earth. 

We  do  not  read  even  of  the  discovery  of  this  continent,! 
without  feeling  something  of  a  personal  interest  in  the 

10  event ;  without  being  reminded  how  much  it  has  affected; 
our  own  foi tunes  and  our  own  existence.     It  would  be' 
still  more  unnatural  for  us,  therefore,  than  for  others, 
to  contemplate  with  unaffected  minds  that  interesting,  I 
may  say  that  most  touching  and  pathetic  scene,  when 

15  the  great  discoverer  of  America  stood  on  the  deck  of 
his  shattered  bark,  the  shades  of  night  falling  on  the 
sea,  yet  no  man  sleeping;  tossed  on  the  billows  of  an 
unknown  ocean,  yet  the  stronger  billows  of  alternate 
hope  and  despair  tossing  his  own  troubled  thoughts ;  ex- 

20  tending  forward  his  harassed  frame,  straining  westward 

his  anxious  and  eager  eyes,  till  Heaven  at  last  granted 

him  a  moment  of  rapture  and  ecstasy,  in  blessing  his 

vision  with  the  sight  of  the  unknown  world. 

Nearer  to  our  times,  more  closely  connected  with  our 

25  fates,  and  therefore  still  more  interesting  to  our  feelings 
and  affections,  is  the  settlement  of  our  own  country  by 
colonists  from  England.  We  cherish  every  memorial  of 
these  worthy  ancestors;  we  celebrate  their  patience  and 
fortitude;  we  admire  their  daring  enterprise;  we  teach 

80  our  children  to  venerate  their  piety ;  and  we  are  justly 
proud  of  being  descended  from  men  who  have  set  the 
world  an  example  of  founding  civil  institutions  on  the 
great  and  united  principles  of  human  freedom  and 
human  knowledge.  To  us,  their  children,  the  story  of 


76  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEE,  LINCOLN 

their  labors  and  sufferings  can  never  be  without  its  inter- 
est. 'We  shall  not  stand  unmoved  on  the  shore  of  Plym- 
outh, while  the  sea  continues  to  wash  it;  nor  will  our 
brethren  in  another  early  and  ancient  colony  forget  the 
place  of  its  first  establishment,  till  their  river  shall  cease  5 
to  flow  by  it.  No  vigor  of  youth,  no  maturity  of  man- 
hood, will  lead  the  nation  to  forget  the  spots  where  its 
infancy  was  cradled  and  defended. 

But  the  great  event  in  the  history  of  the  continent, 
which  we   are   now   met  here   to   commemorate,   that  10 
prodigy  of  modern  times,  at  once  the  wonder  and  the 
blessing  of  the  world,  is  the  American  Eevolution.     In 
a  day  of  extraordinary  prosperity  and  happiness,  of  high 
national  honor,  distinction,  and  power,  we  are  brought 
together,  in  this  place,  by  our  love  of  country,  by  our  15 
admiration  of  exalted  character,  by  our  gratitude  for 
signal  services  and  patriotic  devotion. 

The  Society  whose  organ  I  am  was  formed  for  the 
purpose  of  rearing  some  honorable  and  durable  monu- 
ment to  the  memory  of  the  early  friends  of  American  20 
Independence.  They  have  thought  that  for  this  object 
no  time  could  be  more  propitious  than  the  present  pros- 
perous and  peaceful  period,  that  no  place  could  claim 
preference  over  this  memorable  spot,  and  that  no  day 
could  be  more  auspicious  to  the  undertaking  than  the  25 
anniversary  of  the  battle  which  was  here  fought.  The 
foundation  of  that  monument  we  have  now  laid.  With 
solemnities  suited  to  the  occasion,  with  prayers  to 
Almighty  God  for  his  blessing,  and  in  the  midst  of  this 
cloud  of  witnesses,  we  have  begun  the  work.  We  trust  so 
it  will  be  prosecuted,  and  that,  springing  from  a  broad 
foundation,  rising  high  in  massive  solidity  and  un- 
adorned grandeur,  it  may  remain  as  long  as  Heaven  per- 
mits the  works  of  man  to  last,  a  fit  emblem,  both  of  the 


THE  BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT  77 

events  in  memory  of  which  it  is  raised,  and  of  the  grati- 
tude of  those  who  have  reared  it. 

We    know,    indeed,    that    the    record    of    illustrious 
actions  is  most  safely  deposited  in  the  universal  remem- 
5  brance  of  mankind.     We  know  that  if  we  could  cause 
this  structure  to  ascend,  not  only  till  it  reached  the 
skies,  but  till  it  pierced  them,  its  broad  surfaces  could 
still  contain  but  part  of  that  which,  in  an  age  of  knowl- 
edge, hath   already   been   spread  over  the   earth,   and 
10  which  history  charges  itself  with  making  known  to  all 
future  times.    We  know  that  no  inscription  on  entabla- 
tures less  broad  than  the  earth  itself  can  carry  informa- 
tion of  the  events  we  commemorate  where  it  has  not 
already  gone;  and  that  no  structure  which  shall  not 
15  outlive  the  duration  of  letters  and  knowledge  among 
men  can  prolong  the  memorial.     But  our  object  is, 
by  this  edifice,  to  show  our  own  deep  sense  of  the  value 
and  importance  of  the  achievements  of  our  ancestors; 
and,  by  presenting  this  work  of  gratitude  to  the  eye, 
20  to  keep  alive  similar  sentiments,  and  to  foster  a  con- 
stant   regard    for    the    principles    of    the    Eevolution. 
Human  beings  are  composed,  not  of  reason  only,  but 
of  imagination  also,  and  sentiment;  and  that  is  neither 
wasted  nor  misapplied  which  is  appropriated  to  the 
25  purpose  of  giving  right  direction  to  sentiments,  and 
opening  proper  springs  of  feeling  in  the  heart. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  our  object  is  to  per- 
petuate national  hostility,  or  even  to  cherish  a  mere 
military  spirit.  It  is  higher,  purer,  nobler.  We  con- 
so  secrate  our  work  to  the  spirit  of  national  independence, 
and  we  wish  that  the  light  of  peace  may  rest  upon  it 
forever.  We  rear  a  memorial  of  our  conviction  of  that 
unmeasured  benefit  which  has  been  conferred  on  our 
own  land,  and  of  the  happy  influences  which  have  been 


78  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEB,  LINCOLN 

produced,  by  the  same  events,  on  the  general  interests 
of  mankind.     We  come,  as  Americans,  to  mark  a  spot 
which  must  forever  be  dear  to  us  and  our  posterity. 
We  wish  that  whosoever,  in  all  coming  time,  shall  turn  ' 
his  eye  hither,  may  behold  that  the  place  is  not  undis-  5 
tinguished  where  the  first  great  battle  of  the  Revolu- 
tion was   fought.     We  wish   that  this   structure   may 
proclaim  the  magnitude  and  importance  of  that  event 
to  every  class  and  every  age.     We  wish  that  infancy 
may  learn  the  purpose  of  its  erection  from  maternal  10 
lips,  and  that  weary  and  withered  age  may  behold  it, 
and  be  solaced  by  the  recollections  which  it  suggests. 
We  wish  that  labor  may  look  up  here,  and  be  proud 
in  the  midst  of  its  toil.     We  wish  that,  in  those  days 
of  disaster  which,  as  they  come  upon  all  nations,  must  15 
be  expected  to  come  upon  us  also,  desponding  patriot- 
ism  may   turn   its   eyes   hitherward,    and   be   assured 
that    the    foundations    of    our    national    power    are 
still  strong.    We  wish  that  this  column,  rising  towards 
heaven  among  the  pointed  spires  of  so  many  temples  20 
dedicated  to  God,  may  contribute  also  to  produce,  in 
all  minds,  a  pious  feeling  of  dependence  and  gratitude. 
We  wish,  finally,  that  the  last  object  to  the  sight  of 
him  who  leaves  his  native  shore,  and  the  first  to  gladden 
his  who  revisits  it,  may  be  something  which  shall  re-  25 
mind  him  of  the  liberty  and  the  glory  of  his  country. 
Let  it  rise !  let  it  rise,  till  it  meet  the  sun  in  his 
coming;  let  the  earliest  light  of  the  morning  gild  it, 
and  parting  day  linger  and  play  on  its  summit. 

We   live   in  a  most   extraordinary  age.     Events   so  so 
various  and  so  important  that  they  might  crowd  and 
distinguish    centuries    are,    in   our    times,    compressed 
within   the   compass   of   a   single   life.     When   has    it 
happened  that  history  has  had  so  much  to  record,  in 


THE  BUNKEB  HILL   MONUMENT  79 

the  same  term  of  years,  as  since  the  17th  of  June, 
1775?  Our  own  revolution,  which,  under  other  cir- 
cumstances, might  itself  have  been  expected  to  occa- 
sion a  war  of  half  a  century,  has  been  achieved; 

5  twenty-four  sovereign  and  independent  States  erected* 
and  a  general  government  established  over  them,  so 
safe,  so  wise,  so  free,  so  practical,  that  we  might  well 
wonder  its  establishment  should  have  been  accom- 
plished so  soon,  were  it  not  far  the  greater  wonder 

10  that  it  should  have  been  established  at  all.  Two  or 
three  millions  of  people  have  been  augmented  to 
twelve,  the  great  forests  of  the  West  prostrated  be- 
neath the  arm  of  successful  industry,  and  the  dwellers 
on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi  become 

15  the  fellow-citizens  and  neighbors  of  those  who  culti- 
vate the  hills  of  New  England.  We  have  a  commerce 
that  leaves  no  sea  unexplored;  navies  which  take  no 
law  from  superior  force;  revenues  adequate  to  all  the 
exigencies  of  government,  almost  without  taxation; 

20  and  peace  with  all  nations,  founded  on  equal  rights 
and  mutual  respect. 

Europe,  within  the  same  period,  has  been  agitated 
by  a  mighty  revolution,  which,  while  it  has  been  felt 
in  the  individual  condition  and  happiness  of  almost 

25  every  man,  has  shaken  to  the  centre  her  political  fab- 
ric, and  dashed  against  one  another  thrones  which 
had  stood  tranquil  for  ages.  On  this,  our  continent, 
our  own  example  has  been  followed,  and  colonies  have 
sprung  up  to  be  nations.  Unaccustomed  sounds  of 

30  liberty  and  free  government  have  reached  us  from  be- 
yond the  track  of  the  sun;  and  at  this  moment  the 
dominion  of  European  power  in  this  continent,  from 
the  place  where  we  stand  to  the  south  pole,  is  annihi- 
lated for  ever. 


80  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEE,  LINCOLN 

In  the  mean  time,  both  in  Europe  and  America, 
such  has  been  the  general  progress  of  knowledge,  such 
the  improvement  in  legislation,  in  commerce,  in  the 
arts,  in  letters,  and,  above  all,  in  liberal  ideas  and  the 
general  spirit  of  the  age,  that  the  whole  world  seems  5 
changed. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  that  this  is  but  a  faint  ab- 
stract of  the  things  which  have  happened  since  the  day 
of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  we  are  but  fifty  years 
removed  from  it ;  and  we  now  stand  here  to  enjoy  all  10 
the  blessings  of  our  own  condition,  and  to  look  abroad 
on  the  brightened  prospects  of  the  wbrld,  while 
we  still  have  among  us  some  of  those  who  were 
active  agents  in  the  scenes  of  1775,  and  who  are  now 
here,  from  every  quarter  of  New  England,  to  visit  15 
once  more,  and  under  circumstances  so  affecting,  I  had 
almost  said  so  overwhelming,  this  renowned  theatre  of 
their  courage  and  patriotism. 

Venerable  men!  you  have  come  down  to  us  from  a 
former  generation.  Heaven  has  bounteously  lengthened  20 
out  your  lives,  that  you  might  behold  this  joyous  day. 
You  are  now  where  you  stood  fifty  j'ears  ago,  this  very 
hour,  with  your  brothers,  and  your  neighbors,  shoulder 
to  shoulder,  in  the  strife  for  your  country.  Behold, 
how  altered !  The  same  heavens  are  indeed  over  your  25 
heads;  the  same  ocean  rolls  at  your  feet;  but  all  else 
how  changed !  You  hear  now  no  roar  of  hostile  can- 
non, you  see  no  mixed  volumes  of  smoke  and  flame 
rising  from  burning  Charlestown.  The  ground  strewed 
with  the  dead  and  dying ;  the  impetuous  charge ;  the  so 
steady  and  successful  repulse;  the  loud  call  to  repeated 
assault ;  the  summoning  of  all  that  is  manly  to  repeated 
resistance;  a  thousand  bosoms  freely  and  fearlessly 
cared  in  an  instant  to  whatever  of  terror  there  may  be 


THE   BUNKER  HILL    MONUMENT  81 

in  war  and  death, — all  these  you  have  witnessed,  but 
you  witness  them  no  more.  All  is  peace.  The  heights 
of  yonder  metropolis,  its  towers  and  roofs,  which  you 
then  saw  filled  with  wives  and  children  and  countrymen 
in  distress  and  terror,  and  looking  with  unutterable  5 
emotions  for  the  issue  of  the  combat,  have  presented 
you  to-day  with  the  sight  of  its  whole  happy  population 
come  out  to  welcome  and  greet  you  with  a  universal 
jubilee.  Yonder  proud  ships,  by  a  felicity  of  position 
appropriately  lying  at  the  foot  of  this  mount,  and  10 
seeming  fondly  to  cling  around  it,  are  not  means  of 
annoyance  to  you,  but  your  country's  own  means  of  dis- 
tinction and  defence.  All  is  peace ;  and  God  has  granted 
you  this  sight  of  your  country's  happiness,  ere  you 
slumber  in  the  grave.  He  has  allowed  you  to  behold  is 
and  to  partake  the  reward  of  your  patriotic  toils;  and 
he  has  allowed  us,  your  sons  and  countrymen,  to  meet 
you  here,  and  in  the  name  of  the  present  generation,  in 
the  name  of  your  country,  in  the  name  of  liberty,  to 
thank  you!  20 

But,  alas !  you  are  not  all  here !  Time  and  the  sword 
have  thinned  your  ranks.  Prescott,  Putnam,  Stark, 
Brooks,  Read,  Pomeroy,  Bridge!  our  eyes  seek  for  you 
in  vain  amid  this  broken  band.  You  are  gathered  to 
your  fathers,  and  live  only  to  your  country  in  her  25 
grateful  remembrance  and  your  own  bright  example. 
But  let  us  not  too  much  grieve  that  you  have  met  the 
common  fate  of  men.  You  lived  at  least  long  enough 
to  know  that  your  work  had  been  nobly  and  successfully 
accomplished.  You  lived  to  see  your  country's  inde-  30 
pendence  established,  and  to  sheathe  your  swords  from 
war.  On  the  light  of  Liberty  you  saw  arise  the  light 
of  Peace,  like 

"another  morn, 
Risen  on  mid-noon ;  "  35 


82  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEE,  LINCOLN 

and  the  sky  on  which  you  closed  your  eyes  was  cloudless. 
But  ah!  Him!  the  first  great  martyr  in  this  great 
cause !  Him !  the  premature  victim  of  his  own  self- 
devoting  heart !  Him !  the  head  of  our  civil  councils, 

5  and  the  destined  leader  of  our  military  bands,  whom 
nothing  brought  hither  but  the  unquenchable  fire  of 
his  own  spirit !  Him !  cut  off  by  Providence  in  the 
hour  of  overwhelming  anxiety  and  thick  gloom;  falling 
ere  he  saw  the  star  of  his  country  rise;  pouring  out 

10  his  generous  blood  like  water,  before  he  knew  whether 
it  -would  fertilize  a  land  of  freedom  or  of  bondage  I—- 
how shall  I  struggle  with  the  emotions  that  stifle  the 
utterance  of  thy  name !  Our  poor  work  may  perish ; 
but  thine  shall  endure!  This  monument  may  moulder 

15  away ;  the  solid  ground  it  rests  upon  may  sink  down 
to  a  level  with  the  sea ;  but  thy  memory  shall  not  fail ! 
Wheresoever  among  men  a  heart  shall  be  found  that 
beats  to  the  transports  of  patriotism  and  liberty,  its 
aspirations  shall  be  claimed  kindred  with  thy  spirit' 

20  But  the  scene  amidst  which  we  stand  does  not  permit 
us  to  confine  our  thoughts  or  our  sympathies  to  those 
fearless  spirits  who  hazarded  or  lost  their  lives  on  this 
consecrated  spot.  We  have  the  happiness  to  rejoice 
here  in  the  presence  of  a  most  worthy  representation  of 
the  survivors  of  the  whole  Revolutionary  army. 

25  Veterans !  you  are  the  remnant  of  many  a  well-fought 
field.  You  bring  with  you  marks  of  honor  from  Tren- 
ton and  Monmouth,  from  Yorktown,  Camden,  Benning- 
ton,  and  Saratoga.  Veterans  of  half  a  century!  when 
in  your  youthful  days  you  put  everything  at  hazard  in 

so  your  country's  cause,  good  as  that  cause  was,  and  san- 
guine as  youth  is,  still  your  fondest  hopes  did  not 
stretch  onward  to  an  hour  like  this !  At  a  period  to 
which  you  could  not  reasonably  have  expected  to  arrive, 


83 

at  a  moment  of  national  prosperity  such  as  you  could 
never  have  foreseen,  you  are  now  met  here  to  enjoy 
the  fellowship  of  old  soldiers,  and  to  receive  the  over- 
flowings of  a  universal  gratitude. 

5  But  your  agitated  countenances  and  your  heaving 
breasts  inform  me  that  even  this  is  not  an  unmixed  joy. 
I  perceive  that  a  tumult  of  contending  feelings  rushes 
upon  you.  The  images  pf  the  dead,  as  well  as  the  per- 
sons of  the  living,  present  themselves  before  you.  The 
10  scene  overwhelms  you,  and  I  turn  from  it.  May  the 
Father  of  all  mercies  smile  upon  your  declining  years, 
and  bless  them !  And  when  you  shall  here  have,  ex- 
changed your  embraces,  when  you  shall  once  more  have 
pressed  the  hands  which  have  been  so  often  extended  to 
is  give  succor  in  adversity,  or  grasped  in  the  exultation  of 
victory,  then  look  abroad  upon  this  lovely  land  which 
your  young  valor  defended,  and  mark  the  happiness 
with  which.it  is  filled;  yea,  look  abroad  upon  the  whole 
earth,  and  see  what  a  name  you  have  contributed  to 
20  give  to  your  country,  and  what  praise  you  have  added 
to  freedom,  and  then  rejoice  in  the  sympathy  and  grati- 
tude which  beam  upon  your  last  days  from  the  improved 
condition  of  mankind! 

The  occasion  does  not  require  of  me  any  particular 
25  account  of  the  battle  of  the  17th  of  June,  1775,  nor 
any  detailed  narrative  of  the  events  which  immedi- 
ately preceded  it.  These  are  familiarly  known  to  all. 
In  the  progress  of  the  great  and  interesting  contro- 
versy, Massachusetts  and  the  town  of  Boston  had  be- 
so  come  early  and  marked  objects  of  the  displeasure  of 
the  British  Parliament.  This  had  been  manifested 
in  the  act  for  altering  the  government  of  the  Prov- 
ince, and  in  that  for  shutting  up  the  port  of  Boston. 
Xothing  sheds  more  honor  on  our  early  history,  and 


84  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEK,  LINCOLN 

nothing  better  shows  how  little  the  feelings  and  sen- 
timents of  the  Colonies  were  known  or  regarded  in 
England,  than  the  impression  which  these  measures 
everywhere  produced  in  America.  It  had  been  antic- 
ipated, that  while  the  Colonies  in  general  would  be  5 
terrified  by  the  severity  of  the  punishment  inflicted 
on  Massachusetts,  the  other  seaports  would  be  gov- 
erned by  a  mere  spirit  of  gain;  and  that,  as  Boston 
was  now  cut  off  from  all  commerce,  the  unexpected 
advantage  which  this  blow  on  her  was  calculated  to  10 
confer  on  other  towns  would  be  greedily  enjoyed. 
How  miserably  such  reasoners  deceived  themselves! 
How  little  they  knew  of  the  depth,  and  the  strength, 
and  the  intenseness  of  that  feeling  of  resistance  to 
illegal  acts  of  power,  which  possessed  the  whole  Ameri-  15 
can  people.  Everywhere  the  unworthy  boon  was 
rejected  with  scorn.  The  fortunate  occasion  was 
seized,  everywhere,  to  show  to  the  whole  world  that 
the  Colonies  were  swayed  by  no  local  interest,  no  par- 
tial interest,  no  selfish  interest.  The  temptation  to  20 
profit  by  the  punishment  of  Boston  was  strongest  to 
our  neighbors  of  Salem.  Yet  Salem  was  precisely 
the  place  where  this  miserable  proffer  was  spurned, 
in  a  tone  of  the  most  lofty  self-respect  and  the  most 
indignant  patriotism.  "We  are  deeply  affected/'  25 
said  its  inhabitants,  "with  the  sense  of  our  public 
calamities;  but  the  miseries  that  are  now  rapidly  has- 
tening on  our  brethren  in  the  capital  of  the  Province 
greatly  excite  our  commiseration.  By  shutting  up  the 
port  of  Boston  some  imagine  that  the  course  of  trade  30 
might  be  turned  hither  and  to  our  benefit;  but  we 
must  be  dead  to  every  idea  of  justice,  lost  to  all  feel- 
ings of  humanity,  could  we  indulge  a  thought  to  seize 
on  wealth  and  raise  our  fortunes  on  the  ruin  of  our 


THE  BUNKEE  HILL   MONUMENT  85 

suffering  neighbors."  These  noble  sentiments  were 
not  confined  to  our  immediate  vicinity.  In  that  day 
of  general  affection  and  brotherhood,  the  blow  given 
to  Boston  smote  on  every  patriotic  heart  from  one 

5  end  of  the  country  to  the  other.  Virginia  and  the 
Carolinas,  as  well  as  Connecticut  and  New  Hampshire, 
felt  and  proclaimed  the  cause  to  be  their  own.  The 
Continental  Congress,  then  holding  its  first  session  in 
Philadelphia,  expressed  its  sympathy  for  the  suffering 

;o  inhabitants  of  Boston,  and  addresses  were  received 
from  all  quarters,  assuring  them  that  the  cause  was  a 
common  one,  and  should  be  met  by  common  efforts 
and  common  sacrifices.  The  Congress  of  Massachu- 
setts responded  to  these  assurances;  and  in  an  address 

15  to  the  Congress  at  Philadelphia,  bearing  the  official 
signature,  perhaps  among  the  last,  of  the  immortal 
Warren,  notwithstanding  the  severity  of  its  suffering 
and  the  magnitude  of  the  dangers  which  threatened  it, 
it  was  declared  that  this  Colony  "is  ready,  at  all  times, 

20  to  spend  and  to  be  spent  in  the  cause  of  America." 

But  the  hour  drew  nigh  which  was  to  put  profes- 
sions to  the  proof,  and  to  determine  whether  the  au- 
thors of  these  mutual  pledges  were  ready  to  seal  them 
in  blood.  The  tidings  of  Lexington  and  Concord  had 

25  no  sooner  spread,  than  it  was  universally  felt  that  the 
time  was  at  last  come  for  action.  A  spirit  pervaded 
all  ranks,  not  transient,  not  boisterous,  but  deep,  sol- 
emn, determined, — 

"Totamque  infusa  per  artus 
Mens  agitat  molem,  et  magno  se  corpore  miscet. " 

War  on  their  own  soil  and  at  their  own  doors,  was, 
indeed^  a  strange  work  to  the  yeomanry  of  New  Eng- 


86  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEE,  LINCOLN 

land;  but  their  consciences  were  convinced  of  its  ne- 
cessity, their  country  called  them  to  it,  and  they  did 
not  withhold  themselves  from  the  perilous  trial.     The 
ordinary    occupations    of    life    were    abandoned ;    the 
plough   was   stayed   in   the   unfinished    furrow ;   wives  5 
gave  up  their  husbands,  and  mothers  gave  up  their  _ 
sons,  to  the  battles  of  a  civil  war.     Death  might  come 
in  honor,  on  the  field;  it  might  come,  in  disgrace,  on 
the  scaffold.     For  either  or  for  both  they  were  pre- 
pared.    The   sentiment  of   Quincy   was   full   in   their  10 
hearts.     "Blandishments,"  said  that  distinguished  son 
of  genius  and  patriotism,  "will  not  fascinate  us,  nor 
will  threats  of  a  halter  intimidate;    for,  under  God, 
we   are   determined,   that,  whatsoever,   whensoever,   or 
howsoever,  we  shall  be  called  to  make  our  exit,  we  will  15 
die  free  men." 

The  17th  of  June  saw  the  four  New  England  Colo- 
nies standing  here  side  by  side,  to  triumph  or  to  fall 
together;  and  there  was  with  them  from  that  moment 
to  the  end  of  the  war,  what  I  hope  will  remain  with  20 
them  for  ever, — one  cause,  one  country,  one  heart. 

The  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  was  attended  with  the 
most  important  effects  beyond  its  immediate  results  as 
a  military  engagement.  It  created  at  once  a  state  of 
open,  public  war.  There  could  now  be  no  longer  a  25 
question  of  proceeding  against  individuals,  as  guilty 
of  treason  or  rebellion.  That  fearful  crisis  was  past. 
The  appeal  lay  to  the  sword,  and  the  only  question 
was,  whether  the  spirit  and  the  resources  of  the  people 
would  hold  out  till  the  object  should  be  accomplished.  30 
Nor  were  its  general  consequences  confined  to  our  own 
country.  The  previous  proceedings  of  the  Colonies, 
their  appeals,  resolutions,  and  addresses,  had  made 
their  cause  known  to  Europe.  Without  boasting,  we 


THE  BUNKEE  HILL  MONUMENT       87 

may  say,  that  in  no  age  or  country  has  the  public 
cause  been  maintained  with  more  force  of  argument, 
more  power  of  illustration,  or  more  of  that  persuasion 
which  excited  feeling  and  elevated  principle  can  alone 

*  bestow,  than  the  Revolutionary  state  papers  exhibit. 
These  papers  will  forever  deserve  to  be  studied,  not 
only  for  the  spirit  which  they  breathe,  but  for  the 
ability  with  which  they  were  written. 

To  this  able  vindication  of  their  cause,  the  Colonies 

10  had  now  added  a  practical  and  severe  proof  of  their 
own  true  devotion  to  it,  and  given  evidence  also  of  the 
power  which  they  could  bring  TO  its  support.  All  now 
saw,  that  if  America  fell,  she  would  not  fall  without  a 
struggle.  Men  felt  sympathy  and  regard,  as  well  as 

15  surprise,  when  they  beheld  these  infant  states,  remote, 
unknown,  unaided,  encounter  the  power  of  England, 
and,  in  the  first  considerable  battle,  leave  more  of  their 
enemies  dead  on  the  field,  in  proportion  to  the  number 
of  combatants,  than  had  been  recently  known  to  fall 

20  in  the  wars  of  Europe. 

Information  of  these  events,  circulating  throughout 
the  world,  at  length  reached  the  ears  of  one  who  now 
hears  me.  He  has  not  forgotten  the  emotion  which 
the  fame  of  Bunker  Hill,  and  the  name  of  Warren, 

25  excited  in  his  youthful  breast. 

Sir,  we  are  assembled  to  commemorate  the  establish- 
ment of  great  public  principles  of  liberty,  and  to  do 
honor  to  the  distinguished  dead.  The  occasion  is  too 
severe  for  eulogy  of  the  living.  But,  Sir,  your  inter- 

30  esting  relation  to  this  country,  the  peculiar  circum- 
stances which  surround  you  and  surround  us,  call  on 
me  to  express  the  happiness  which  we  derive  from  your 
presence  and  aid  in  this  solemn  commemoration. 
Fortunate,  fortunate  man !  with  what  measure  of  de- 


88  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEE,  LINCOLN 

votion  will  you  not  thank  God  for  the'  circumstances 
of  your  extraordinary  life!  You  are  connected  with 
both  hemispheres  and  with  two  generations.  Heaven 
saw  fit  to  ordain  that  the  electric  spark  of  liberty 
should  be  conducted,  through  you,  from  the  New  5 
World  to  the  Old;  and  we,  who  are  now  here  to  per- 
form this  duty  of  patriotism,  have  all  of  us  long 
ago  received  it  in  charge  from  our  fathers  to  cherish 
your  name  and  your  virtues.  You  will  account'  it 
an  instance  of  your  good  fortune,  Sir,  that  you  crossed  10 
the  seas  to  visit  us  at  a  time  which  enables  you  to 
be  present  at  this  solemnity.  You  now  behold  the 
field,  the  renown  of  which  reached  you  in  the  heart 
of  France,  and  caused  a  thrill  in  your  ardent  bosom. 
You  see  the  lines  of  the  little  redoubt  thrown  up  by  is 
the  incredible  diligence  of  Prescott;  defended,  to  the 
last  extremity,  by  his  lion-hearted  valor;  and  within 
which  the  corner-stone  of  our  monument  has  now  taken 
its  position.  You  see  where  Warren  fell,  and  where 
Parker,  Gardner,  McCleary,  Moore,  and  other  early  20 
patriots,  fell  with  him.  Those  who  survived  that  day, 
and  whose  lives  have  been  prolonged  to  ,the  present 
hour,  are  now  around  you.  Some  of  them  you  have 
known  in  the  trying  scenes  of  the  war.  Behold!  they 
now  stretch  forth  their  feeble  arms  to  embrace  yon.  25 
Behold !  they  raise  their  trembling  voices  to  invoke  the 
blessing  of  God  on  you  and  yours  forever. 

Sir,  you  have  assisted  us  in  laying  the  foundation  of 
this  structure.  You  have  heard  us  rehearse,  with  our 
feeble  commendation,  the  names  of  departed  patriots,  so 
Monuments  and  eulogy  belong  to  the  dead.  We  give 
them  this  day  to  Warren  and  his  associates.  On  other 
occasions  they  have  been  given  to  your  more  immediate 
companions  in  arms,  to  Washington,  to  Greene,  to  Gates, 


89 

to  Sullivan,  and  to  Lincoln.  We  have  become  reluctant 
to  grant  these,  our  highest  and  last  honors,  further. 
We  would  gladly  hold  them  yet  back  from  the  little 
remnant  of  that  immortal  band.  Serus  in  ccelum  redeas. 

5  Illustrious  as  are  your  merits,  yet  far,  oh,  very  far  dis- 
tant be  the  day  when  any  inscription  shall  bear  your 
name,  or  any  tongue  pronounce  its  eulogy ! 

The  leading  reflection  to  which  this  occasion  seems  to 
invite  us  respects  the  great  changes  which  have  hap- 

10  pened  in  the  fifty  years  since  the  battle   of   Bunker 

.Hill  was  fought.    And  it  peculiarly  marks  the  character 

of  the  present  age,  that,  in  looking  at  these  changes, 

and  in  estimating  their  effect  on  our  condition,  we  are 

obliged  to  consider,  not  what  has  been  done  in  our 

15  own  country  only,  but  in  others'  also.  In  these  inter- 
esting times,  while  nations  are  making  separate  and 
individual  advances  in  improvement,  they  make,  too,  a 
common  progress;  like  vessels  on  a  common  tide,  pro- 
pelled by  the  gales  at  different  rates,  according  to  their 

20  several  structure  and  management,  but  all  moved  for- 
ward by  one  mighty  current,  strong  enough  to  bear 
onward  whatever  does  not  sink  beneath  it. 

A  chief  distinction  of  the  present  day  is  a  community 
of  opinions  and  knowledge  amongst  men  in  different 

25  nations,  existing  in  a  degree  heretofore  unknown. 
Knowledge  has,  in  our  time,  triumphed,  and  is  tri- 
umphing, over  distance,  over  difference  of  languages, 
over  diversity  of  habits,  over  prejudice,  and  over  big- 
otry. The  civilized  and  Christian  world  is  fast  learning 

?o  the  great  lesson,  that  difference  of  nation  does  not  imply 
necessary  hostility,  and  that  all  contact  need  not  be  war. 
The  whole  world  is  becoming  a  common  field  for  intel- 
lect to  act  in.  Energy  of  mind,  genius,  power,  where- 
soever it  exists,  may  speak  out  in  any  tongue,  and  the 


90  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTER,  LINCOLN 

world  will  hear  it.  A  great  chord  of  sentiment  and 
feeling  runs  through  two  continents,  and  vibrates  over 
both.  Every  breeze  wafts  intelligence  from  country  to 
country;  every  wave  rolls  it;  all  give  it  forth,  and  all 
in  turn  receive  it.  There  is  a  vast  commerce  of  ideas ;  5 
there  are  marts  and  exchanges  for  intellectual  discov- 
eries, and  a  wonderful  fellowship  of  those  individual 
intelligences  which  make  up  the  mind  and  opinion  of 
the  age.  Mind  is  the  great  lever  of  all  things;  human 
thought  is  the  process  by  which  human  ends  are  ulti-  10 
mately  answered;  and  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  so 
astonishing  in  the  last  half-century,  has  rendered  innu- 
merable minds,  variously  gifted  by  nature,  competent 
to  be  competitors  or  fellow-workers  on  the  theatre  of 
intellectual  operation.  15 

From  these  causes  important  improvements  have 
taken  place  in  the  personal  condition  of  individuals. 
Generally  speaking,  mankind  are  not  only  better  fed 
and  better  clothed,  but  they  are  able  also  to  enjoy 
more  leisure;  they  possess  more  refinement  and  more  20 
self-respect.  A  superior  tone  of  education,  manners, 
and  habits  prevails.  This  remark,  most  true  in  its 
application  to  our  own  country,  is  also  partly  true 
when  applied  elsewhere.  It  is  proved  by  the  vastly 
augmented  consumption  of  those  articles  of  manufac-  25 
ture  and  of  commerce  which  contribute  to  the  comforts 
and  the  decencies  of  life;  an  augmentation  which  has 
far  outrun  the  progress  of  population.  And  while  the 
unexampled  and  almost  incredible  use  of  machinery 
would  seem  to  supply  the  place  of  labor,  labor  still  30 
finds  its  occupation  and  its  reward;  so  wisely  has 
Providence  adjusted  men's  wants  and  desires  to  their 
condition  and  their  capacity. 

Any  adequate  survey,  however,  of  the  progress  made 


THE  BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT  91 


during  the  last  half-century  in  the  polite  and  the  me- 
chanic arts,  in  machinery  and  manufactures,  in  com- 
merce and  agriculture,  in  letters  and  in  science,  would 
require  volumes.  I  must  abstain  wholly  from  these 

6  subjects,  and  turn  for  a  moment  to  the  contemplation 
of  what  has  been  done  on  the  great  question  of  poli- 
tics and  government.  This  is  the  master  topic  of  the 
age;  and  during  the  whole  fifty  years  it  has  intensely 
occupied  the  thoughts  of  men.  The  nature  of  civil 

10  government,  its  ends  and  uses,  have  been  canvassed 
and  investigated;  ancient  opinions  attacked  and  de- 
fended; new  ideas  recommended  and  resisted,  by 
whatever  power  the  mind  of  man  could  bring  to  the 
controversy.  From  the  closet  and  the  public  halls  the 

15  debate  has  been  transferred  to  the  field ;  and  the  world 
has  been  shaken  by  wars  of  unexampled  magnitude, 
and  the  greatest  variety  of  fortune.  A  day  of  peace 
has  at  length  succeeded;  and  now  that  the  strife  has 
subsided,  and  the  smoke  cleared  away,  we  may  be- 

20  gin  to  see  what  has  actually  been  done,  permanently 
changing  the  state  and  condition  of  human  society. 
And,  without  dwelling  on  particular  circumstances,  it 
is  most  apparent,  that,  from  the  before-mentioned 
causes  of  augmented  knowledge  and  improved  indi- 

25  vidual  condition,  a  real,  substantial,  and  important 
change  has  taken  place,  and  is  taking  place,  highly 
favorable,  on  the  whole,  to  human  liberty  and  human 
happiness. 

The  great  wheel  of  political  revolution  began  to  move  ' 

30  in  America.  Here  its  rotation  was  guarded,  regular, 
and  safe.  Transferred  to  the  other  continent,  from 
unfortunate  but  natural  causes,  it  received  an  irregular 
and  violent  impulse;  it  whirled  along  with  a  fearful 
celerity;  till  at  length,  like  the  chariot  wheels  in  the 


92  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEB,  LINCOLN 

races  of  antiquity,  it  took  fire  from  the  rapidity  of  its 
own  motion,  and  blazed  onward,  spreading  conflagration 
and  terror  around. 

We  learn  from  the  result  of  this  experiment,  how^/ 
fortunate  was  our  own  condition,  and  how  admirably  5 
the  character  of  our  people  was  calculated  for  setting 
the  great  example  of  popular  governments.     The  pos- 
session of  power  did  not  turn  the  heads  of  the  American 
people,  for  they  had  long  been  in  the  habit  of  exer- 
cising a  great   degree   of   self-control.     Although   the  10 
paramount  authority  of  the  parent  state  existed  over 
them,  yet  a  large  field  of  legislation  had  always  been 
open  to  our  Colonial  assemblies.    They  were  accustomed 
to  representative  bodies  and  the  forms  of  free  govern- 
ment ;  they  understood  the  doctrine  of  the  division  of  15 
power  among  different  branches,  and  the  necessity  of 
checks   on  each.     The  character   of   our   countrymen, 
moreover,  was  sober,  moral,  and  religious;  and  there 
was  little  in  the  change  to  shock  their  feelings  of  jus- 
tice and  humanity,  or  even  to  disturb  an  honest  preju-  20 
dice.    We  had  no  domestic  throne  to  overturn,  no  privi- 
leged orders  to  cast  down,  no  violent  changes  of  prop- 
erty to  encounter.    In  the  American  Revolution,  no  man 
sought  or  wished  for  more  than  to  defend  and  enjoy 
his    own.      None    hoped    for    plunder    or    for    spoil.  25 
Eapacity  was  unknown  to  it;  the  axe  was  not  among 
the  instruments  of  its  accomplishment ;  and  we  all  know 
that  it  could  not  have  lived  a  single  day  under  any 
well-founded  imputation  of  possessing  a  tendency  ad- 
verse to  the  Christian  religion.  30 

It  need  not  surprise  us,  that,  under  circumstances  less  ^ 
auspicious,   political  revolutions  elsewhere,  even  when 
well  intended,  have  terminated  differently.     It  is,  in- 
deed, a  great  achievement;  it  is  the  master-work  of  the 


THE  BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT  93 

-1  world,  to  establish  governments  entirely  popular  on 
lasting  foundations;  nor  is  it  easy,  indeed,  to  introduce 
the  popular  principle  at  all  into  governments  to  which 
it  has  been  altogether  a  stranger.  It  cannot  be  doubted^ 

5  however,  that  Europe  has  come  out  of  the  contest,  in 
which  she  has  been  so  long  engaged,  with  greatly 
superior  knowledge,  and,  in  many  respects,  in  a  highly 
improved  condition.  Whatever  benefit  has  been  ac- 
quired is  likely  to  be  retained,  for  it  consists  mainly  in 

10  the  acquisition  of  more  enlightened  ideas.  And  al- 
though kingdoms  and  provinces  may  be  wrested  from 
the  hands  that  hold  them,  in  the  same  manner  they 
were  obtained;  although  ordinary  and  vulgar  power 
may,  in  human  affairs,  be  lost  as  it  has  been  won;  yet 

K  it  is  the  glorious  prerogative  of  the  empire  of  knowl- 
edge, that  what  it  gains  it  never  loses.  On  the  contrary, 
it  increases  by  the  multiple  of  its  power;  all  its  ends 
become  means;  all  its  attainments,  helps  to  new  con- 
quests. Its  whole  abundant  harvest  is  but  so  much  seed 

20  wheat,  and  nothing  has  limited,  and  nothing  can  limit 
the  amount  of  ultimate  product. 

Under  the  influence  of  this  rapidly  increasing  knowl-^y- 
edge,  the  people  have  begun,  in  all  forms  of  govern- 
ment, to  think  and  to  reason  on  affairs  of  state.     Re- 

25  garding  government  as  an  institution  for  the  public 
good,  they  demand  a  knowledge  of  its  operations,  and 
a  participation  in  its  exercise.  A  call  for  the  repre- 
sentative system,  wherever  it  is  not  enjoyed,  and  where 
there  is  already  intelligence  enough  to  estimate  its  value, 

30  is  perseveringly  made.  Where  men  may  speak  out,  they 
demand  it !  where  the  bayonet  is  at  their  throats,  they 
pray  for  it. 

When  Louis  the  Fourteenth  said,  "I  am  the  State," 
he  expressed  the  essence  of  the  doctrine  of  unlimited 


94  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTER,  LINCOLN 

power.    By  the  rules  of  that  system,   the  people   are  1 
disconnected  from  the  state;  they  are  its  subjects,  it  ' 
is    their    lord.     These  ideas,  founded  in  the  love  of  ' 
power,  and  long  supported  by  the  excess  and  the  abuse 
of  it,  are  yielding,  in  our  age,  to  other  opinions ;  and  5 
the  civilized  world  seems  at  last  to  be  proceeding  to 
the  conviction  of  that  fundamental  and  manifest  truth, 
that  the  powers  of  government  are  but  a  trust,  and 
that    they    cannot    be  lawfully  exercised  but  for  the 
good  of  the  community.     As  knowledge  is  more  and  ifl 
more    extended,   this    conviction    becomes    more   and 
more  general.     Knowledge,  in  truth,  is  the  great  sun 
in  the  firmament.     Life  and  power  are  scattered  with 
all  its  beams.     The  prayer  of  the  Grecian  champion, 
when  enveloped  in  unnatural  clouds  and  darkness,  is  15 
the  appropriate  political  supplication  for  the  people  of 
every  country  not  yet  blessed  with  free  institutions: — 

"Dispel  this  cloud,  the  light  of  heaven  restore, 
Give  me  to  SEE, — and  Ajax  asks  no  more." 

We  may  hope  that  the  growing  influence  of  enlight-  20 
ened  sentiment  will  promote  the  permanent  peace  of  the 
world.    Wars  to  maintain  family  alliances,  to  uphold  or 
to  cast  down  dynasties,  and  to  regulate  successions  to 
thrones,  which  have  occupied  so  much  room  in  the  his- 
tory of  modern  times,  if  not  less  likely  to  happen  at  all,  25 
will  be  less  likely  to  become  general  and  involve  many 
nations,  as  the  great  principle  shall  be  more  and  more 
established,  that  the  interest  of  the  world  is  peace,  and 
its  first  great  statute  that  every  nation  possesses  the 
power  of  establishing  a  government   for  itself.     But  30 
public  opinion  has  attained  also  an  influence  over  gov- 
ernments which  do  not  admit  the  popular  principle  into 
their  organization.     A  necessary  respect  for  the  judg- 


THE  BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT       95 

ment  of  the  world  operates,  in  some  measure,  as  a 
control  over  the  most  unlimited  forms  of  authority.  It 
is  owing,  perhaps,  to  this  truth,  that  the  interesting 
struggle  of  the  Greeks  has  been  suffered  to  go  on  so  long, 

5  Avithout  a  direct  interference,  either  to  wrest  that  coun- 
try from  its  present  masters,  or  to  execute  the  system  of 
pacification  by  force,  and,  with  united  strength,  lay  the 
neck  of  Christian  and  civilized  Greek  at  the  foot  of  the 
barbarian  Turk.  Let  us  thank  God  that  we  live  in  an 

10  age  when  something  has  influence  besides  the  bayonet, 
and  when  the  sternest  authority  does  not  venture  to 
encounter  the  scorching  power  of  public  reproach.  Any 
attempt  of  the  kind  I  have  mentioned  should  be  met 
by  one  universal  burst  of  indignation;  the  air  of  the 

15  civilized  world  ought  to  be  made  too  warm  to  be  com- 
fortably breathed  by  any  one  who  would  hazard  it. 

It  is,  indeeed,  a  touching  reflection,  that,  while  in 
the  fulness  of  our  country's  happiness,  we  rear  this 
monument  to  her  honor,  we  look  for  instruction  in  our 

20  undertaking  to  a  country  which  is  now  in  fearful  con- 
test, not  for  works  of  art  or  memorials  of  glory,  but 
for  her  own  existence.  Let  her  be  assured  that  she  is 
not  forgotten  in  the  world;  that  her  efforts  are  ap- 
plauded, and  that  constant  prayers  ascend  for  her  suc- 

25  cess.  And  let  us  cherish  a  confident  hope  for  her  final 
triumph.  If  the  true  spark  of  religious  and  civil  lib- 
erty be  kindled,  it  will  burn.  Human  agency  cannot 
extinguish  it.  Like  the  earth's  central  fire,  it  may  be 
smothered  for  a  time;  the  ocean  may  overwhelm  it; 

so  mountains  may  press  it  down ;  but  its  inherent  and 
unconquerable  force  will  heave  both  the  ocean  and  the 
land,  and  at   some  time  or  other,  in  some  place  or  other, 
the  volcano  will  break  out  and  flame  up  to  heaven. 
Among    the    great   events   of    the   half-century,    we  I 


96  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTER,  LINCOLN 

must  reckon,  certainly,  the  revolution  of  South  Amer- 
ica; and  we  are  not  likely  to  overrate  the  importance 
of  that  revolution,  either  to  the  people  of  the  country 
itself  or  to  the  rest  of  the  world.  The  late  Spanish 
colonies,  now  independent  states,  under  circumstances  5 
less  favorable,  doubtless,  than  attended  our  own  revo- 
lution, have  yet  successfully  commenced  their  national 
existence.  They  have  accomplished  the  great  object 
of  establishing  their  independence;  they  are  known 
and  acknowledged  in  the  world ;  and  although  in  re-  10 
gard  to  their  systems  of  government,  their  sentiments 
on  religious  toleration,  and  their  provision  for  public 
instruction,  they  may  have  yet  much  to  learn,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  they  have  risen  to  the  condition  of 
settled  and  established  states  more  rapidly  than  could  li 
have  been  reasonably  anticipated.  They  already  fur- 
nish an  exhilarating  example  of  the  difference  between 
free  governments  and  despotic  misrule.  Their  com- 
merce, at  this  moment,  creates  a  new  activity  in  all 
the  great  marts  of  the  world.  They  show  themselves  20 
able,  by  an  exchange  of  commodities,  to  bear  a  useful 
part  in  the  intercourse  of  nations. 

A  new  spirit  of  enterprise  and  industry  begins  to 
prevail;   all   the   great   interests   of   society   receive   a 
salutary  impulse ;  and  the  progress  of  information  not  35 
only  testifies  to  an  improved  condition,  but  itself  con- 
stitutes the  highest  and  most  essential  improvement. 

When  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  was  fought,  the 
existence  of  South  America  was  scarcely  felt  in  the 
civilized  world.  The  thirteen  little  Colonies  of  North  30 
America  habitually  called  themselves  the  "Continent." 
Borne  down  by  Colonial  subjugation,  monopoly,  and 
bigotry,  these  vast  regions  of  the  South  were  hardly 
Visible  above  the  horizon.  But  in  our  day  there  has 


THE  BUNKEE  HILL  MONUMENT  97 

been,  as  it  were,  a  new  creation.  The  southern  hemi- 
sphere emerges  from  the  sea.  Its  lofty  mountains  begin 
to  lift  themselves  into  the  light  of  heaven;  its  broad 
and  fertile  plains  stretch  out,  in  beauty,  to  the  eye  of 

5  civilized  man,  and  at  the  mighty  bidding  of  the  voice  *. 
of  political  liberty  the  waters  of  darkness  retire.  "\ 

And,  now,  let  us  indulge  an  honest  exultation  in  the 
conviction  of  the  benefit  which  the  example  of  our 
country  has  produced,  and  is  likely  to  produce,  on 

10  human  freedom  and  human  happiness.  Let  us  en- 
deavor to  comprehend  in  all  its  magnitude,  and  to  feel 
in  all  its  importance,  the  part  assigned  to  us  in  the 
great  drama  of  human  affairs.  We  are  placed  at  the 
head  of  the  system  of  representative  and  popular  gov- 

15  ernments.  Thus  far  our  example  shows  that  such 
governments  are  compatible  not  only  with  respectability 
and  power,  but  with  repose,  with  peace,  with  security 
of  personal  rights,  with  good  laws,  and  a  just  adminis- 
tration. 

20  We  are  not  propagandists.  Wherever  other  systems 
are  preferred,  either  as  being  thought  better  in  them- 
selves, or  as  better  suited  to  existing  conditions,  we 
leave  the  preference  to  be  enjoyed.  Our  history  hitherto 
proves,  however,  that  the  popular  form  is  practicable, 

25  and  that  with  wisdom  and  knowledge  men  may  govern 
themselves ;  and  the  duty  incumbent  on  us  is  to  preserve 
the  consistency  of  this  cheering  example,  and  take  care 
that  nothing  weaken  its  authority  with  the  world.  If, 
in  our  cise,  the  representative  system  ultimately  fail, 

80  popular  governments  must  be  pronounced  impossible. 
No  combination  of  circumstances  more  favorable  to  the 
experiment  can  ever  be  expected  to  occur.  The  last 
hopes  of  mankind,  therefore,  rest  with  us;  and  if  it 
should  be  proclaimed  that  cnvc  example  had  become  an 


98  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTER,  LINCOLN 

argument  against  the  experiment,  the  knell  of  popular 
liberty  would  be  sounded  throughout  the  earth. 

These  are  excitements  to  duty;  but  they  are  not 
suggestions  of  doubt.  Our  history  and  our  condition, 
all  that  is  gone  before  us,  and  all  that  surrounds  us,  5 
authorize  the  belief  that  popular  governments,  though 
subject  to  occasional  variations,  in  form  perhaps  not 
always  for  the  better,  may  yet,  in  their  general  charac- 
ter, be  as  durable  and  permanent  as  other  systems.  We 
know,  indeed,  that  in  our  country  any  other  is  im- 10 
possible.  The  principle  of  free  governments  adheres  to 
the  American  soil.  It  is  imbedded  in  it,  immovable  as 
its  mountains. 

And  let  the  sacred  obligations  which  have  devolved 
on  this  generation,  and  on  us,  sink  deep  into  our  hearts.  15 
Those  who  established  our  liberty  and  our  government 
are  daily  dropping  from  among  us.  The  great  trust 
now  descends  to  new. hands.  Let  us  apply  ourselves 
to  that  which  is  presented  to  us,  as  our  appropriate 
object.  We  can  win  no  laurels  in  a  war  for  inde-  20 
pendence.  Earlier  and  worthier  hands  have  gathered 
them  all.  Nor  are  there  places  for  us  by  the  side  of 
Solon,  and  Alfred,  and  other  founders  of  states.  Our 
fathers  have  filled  them.  But  there  remains  to  us  a 
great  duty  of  defence  and  preservation ;  and  there  is  25 
open  to  us  also,  a  noble  pursuit,  to  which  the  spirit  of 
the  times  strongly  invites  us.  Our  proper  business  is 
improvement.  Let  our  age  be  the  age  of  improvement. 
In  a  day  of  peace,  let  us  advance  the  arts  of  peace 
and  the  works  of  peace.  Let  us  develop  the  resources  30 
of  our  land,  call  forth  its  powers,  build  up  its  institu- 
tions, promote  all  its  great  interests,  and  see  whether 
we  also,  in  our  day  and  generation,  may  not  perform 
something  worthy  to  be  remembered.  Let  us  cultivate 


THE  BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT  99 

a  true  spirit  of  union  and  harmony.  In  pursuing  the 
great  objects  which  our  condition  points  out  to  us, 
let  us  act  under  a  settled  conviction,  and  an  habitual 
feeling,  that  these  twenty-four  States  are  one  country. 
I  Let  our  conceptions  be  enlarged  to  the  circle  of  our 
duties.  Let  us  extend  our  ideas  over  the  whole  of  the 
vast  field  in  which  we  are  called  to  act.  Let  our  object 

be,  OUR  COUNTRY,  OUR  WHOLE  COUNTRY,  AND  NOTHING 

BUT  OUR  COUNTRY.  And,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  may 
10  that  country  itself  become  a  vast  and  splendid  monu- 
ment, not  of  oppression  and  terror,  but  of  Wisdom,  of 
Peace,  and  of  Liberty,  upon  which  the  world  may  gaze 
with  admiration  forever ! 


AT  INDEPENDENCE  HALL 

ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 
Philadelphia,  Feb.  21,  1861 

I  am  filled  with  deep  emotion  at  finding  myself 
standing  here  in  this  place,  where  were  collected  together 
the  wisdom,  the  patriotism,  the  devotion  to  principle 
from  which  sprang  the  institutions  under  which  we 
live.  Y.ou  have  kindly  suggested  to  me  that  in  my  s 
hands  is  the  task  of  restoring  peace  to  the  present  dis- 
tracted condition  of  the  country.  I  can  say  in  return, 
sir,  that  all  the  political  sentiments  I  entertain  have 
been  drawn,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  draw 
them,  from  the  sentiments  which  originated  in  and  1C 
were  given  to  the  world  from  this  hall.  I  have  never 
had  a  feeling,  politically,  that  did  not  spring  from  the 
sentiments  embodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence. I  have  often  pondered  over  the  dangers  which 
were  incurred  by  the  men  who  assembled  here,  and  IE 
framed  and  adopted  that  Declaration  of  Independence. 
I  have  pondered  over  the  toils  that  were  endured  by 
the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  army  who  achieved  that 
independence.  I  have  often  inquired  of  myself  what 
great  principle  or  idea  it  was  that  kept  this  confederacy  20 
so  long  together.  It  was  not  the  mere  matter  of  the 
separation  of  the  colonies  from  the  mother-land,  but 
that  sentiment  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
wbich  gave  liberty,  not  alone  to  the  people  of  this 
country,  but,  I  hope,  to  the  world,  for  all  future  time.  25 
It  was  that  which  gave  promise  that  in  due  time  the 

100 


AT  INDEPENDENCE  HALL  101 

weight  would  be  lifted  from  the  shoulders  of  all  men. 
This  is  the  sentiment  embodied  in  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  Now,  my  friends,  can  this  country  be 
saved  upon  that  basis  ?  If  it  can,  I  will  consider  myself 

5  one  of  the  happiest  of  men  in  the  world  if  I  can  help 
to  save  it.  If  it  cannot  be  saved  upon  that  principle, 
it  will  be  truly  awful.  But  if  this  country  cannot  be 
saved  without  giving  up  that  principle,  I  was  about 
to  say  I  would  rather  be  assassinated  on  this  spot  than 

10  surrender  it.  Now,  in  my  view  of  the  present  aspect 
of  affairs,  there  need  be  no  bloodshed  or  war.  There  is 
no  necessity  for  it.  I  am  not  in  favor  of  such  a  course ; 
and  I  may  say  in  advance  that  there  will  be  no  blood- 
shed unless  it  be  forced  upon  the  government,  and  then 

15  it  will  be  compelled  to  act  in  self-defense. 

My  friends,  this  is  wholly  an  unexpected  speech,  and 
I  did  not  expect  to  be  called  upon  to  say  a  word  when 
I  came  here.  I  supposed  it  was  merely  to  do  something 
towards  raising  the  flag — I  may,  therefore,  have  said 

20  something  indiscreet.  I  have  said  nothing  but  what 
I  am  willing  to  live  by,  and  if  it  be  the  pleasure  of 
Almighty  God,  die  by. 


FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 

ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

March  4,  1861 

FELLOW  CITIZENS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES — In  com- 
pliance with  a  custom  as  old  as  the  government  itself, 
I  appear  before  you  to  address  you  briefly,  and  to  take 
in  your  presence  the  oath  prescribed  by  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  to  be  taken  by  the  Presidents 
"before  he  enters  on  the  execution  of  his  office." 

I  do  not  consider  it  necessary  at  present  for  me  to 
discuss  those  matters  of  administration  about  which 
there  is  no  special  anxiety  or  excitement. 

Apprehension  seems  to  exist,  among  the  people  of  the  1 
Southern  States,  that  by  the  accession  of  a  republican 
administration  their  property  and  their  peace  and  per- 
sonal security  are  to  be  endangered.     There  has  never 
been  any  reasonable  cause  for  such  apprehension.     In- 
deed, the  most  ample  evidence  to  the  contrary  has  all  1 
the  while  existed  and  been  open  to  their  inspection. 
It  is  found  in  nearly  all  the  published  speeches  of  him 
who  now  addresses  you.     I  do  but  quote  from  one  of 
those  speeches  when  I  declare  that  "I  have  no  purpose, 
directly  or  indirectly,  to  interfere  with  the  institution  20 
of  slavery  in  the  states  where  it  exists.     I  believe  I 
have  no  lawful  right  to  do  so,  and  I  have  no  inclination 
to  do  so."     Those  who  nominated  and  elected  me  did 
so  with  full  knowledge  that  I  had  made  this  and  many 
similar  declarations,  and  had  never  recanted  them.    And  25 
more  than  this,  they  placed  in  the  platform  for  my  ac- 

102 


FIEST   INAUGURAL   ADDRESS  103 

ceptance,  and  as  a  law  to  themselves  and  to  me,  the 
clear  and  emphatic  resolution  which  I  now  read : — 

"Resolved — That  the  maintenance  inviolate  of  the 
rights  of  the  states,  and  especially  the  right  of  each 

5  state  to  order  and  control  its  own  domestic  institutions 
according  to  its  own  judgment  exclusively,  is  essential 
to  the  balance  of  power  on  which  the  perfection  and 
endurance  of  our  political-  fabric  depend,  and  we  de- 
nounce the  lawless  invasion  by  armed  force  of  the  soil 

10  of  any  state  or  territory,  no  matter  under  what  pretext, 
as  among  the  gravest  of  crimes." 

I  now  reiterate  these  sentiments;  and,  in  doing  so, 
I  only  press  upon  the  public  attention  the  most  con- 
clusive evidence  of  which  the  case  is  susceptible,  that 

15  the  property,  peace,  and  security  of  no  section  are  to 
be  in  any  wise  endangered  by  the  now  incoming  admin- 
istration. I  add,  too,  that  all  the  protection  which, 
consistently  with  the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  can  b« 
given,  will  be  cheerfully  given  to  all  the  states,  when 

20  lawfully  demanded,  for  whatever  cause — as  cheerfully 
to  one  section  as  to  another. 

There  is  much  controversy  about  the  delivering  up 
of  fugitives  from  service  or  labor.  The  clause  I  now 
read  is  as  plainly  written  in  the  Constitution  as  any 

25  other  of  its  provisions : — 

"No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  state, 
under  the  laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall, 
in  consequence  of  any  law  or  regulation  therein,  be 
discharged  from  such  service  or  labor,  but  shall  be 

so  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  service 
or  labor  may  be  due." 

It  is  scarcely  questioned  that  this  provision  was  in- 
tended by  those  who  made  it  for  the  reclaiming  of  what 
we  call  fugitive  slaves;  and  the  intention  of  the  law- 


104  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEE,  LINCOLN 

giver  is  the  law.  All  members  of  Congress  swear  their 
support  to  the  whole  Constitution — to  this  provision 
as  'much  as  any  other.  To  the  proposition,  then,  that 
slaves,  whose  cases  come  within  the  terms  of  this  clause, 
"shall  be  delivered  up,"  their  oaths  are  unanimous.  5 
Now,  if  they  would  make  the  effort  in  good  temper, 
could  they  not,  with  nearly  equal  unanimity,  frame  and 
pass  a  law  by  means  of  which  to  keep  good  that  unani- 
mous oath  ? 

There  is  some  difference  of  opinion  whether  this  clause  10 
should  be  enforced  by  national  or  by  state  authority; 
but  surely  that  difference  is  not  a  very  material  one. 
If  the  slave  is  to  be  surrendered,  it  can  be  of  but  little 
consequence  to  him,  or  to  others,  by  which  authority 
it  is  done.    And  should  any  one,  in  any  case,  be  content  is 
that  his  oath  shall  go  unkept,  on  a  mere  unsubstantial 
controversy  as  to  how  it  shall  be  kept? 

Again,  in  any  law  upon  the  subject,  ought  not  all 
the  safeguards  of  liberty  known  in  civilized  and  human 
jurisprudence  to  be  introduced,  so  that  a  free  man  be  20 
not,  in  any  case,  surrendered  as  a  slave?     And  might 
it  not  be  well,  at  the  same  time,  to  provide  by  law  for 
the   enforcement   of   that   clause   in   the    Constitution 
which  guarantees  that  "the  citizens  of  each  state  shall 
be  entitled  to  all  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  25 
in  the  several  states?" 

I  shall  take  the  official  oath  to-day  with  no  mental 
reservation,  and  with  no  purpose  to  construe  the  Con- 
stitution or  laws  by  any  hypercritical  rule.  And  while 
I  do  not  choose  now  to  specify  particular  acts  of  Con-  30 
gress  as  proper  to  be  enforced,  I  do  suggest  that  it  will 
be  much  safer  for  all,  both  in  official  and  private  sta- 
tions, to  conform  to  and  abide  by  all  those  acts  which 
stand  unrepealed,  than  to  violate  any  of  them,  trusting 


FIRST   INAUGURAL    ADDRESS  105 

to  find  impunity  in  having  them  held  to  be  unconstitu- 
tional. 

It  is  seventy-two  years  since  the  first  inauguration  of 
a  president  under  our  national  constitution.     During 

5  that  period,  fifteen  different  and  greatly  distinguished 
citizens  have,  in  succession,  administered  the  executive 
branch  of  the  government.  They  have  conducted  it 
through  many  perils,  and  generally  with  great  success. 
Yet,  with  all  this  scope  for  precedent,  I  now  enter 

10  upon  the  same  task  for  the  brief  constitutional  term 
of  four  years,  under  great  and  peculiar  difficulty.  A 
disruption  of  the  Federal  Union,  heretofore  only 
menaced,  is  now  formidably  attempted. 

I  hold  that,  in  contemplation  of  universal  law,  and 

15  of  the  Constitution,  the  union  of  these  states  is  per- 
petual. Perpetuity  is  implied,  if  not  expressed,  in  the 
fundamental  law  of  all  national  governments.  It  is 
safe  to  assert  that  no  government  proper  ever  had  a 
provision  in  its  organic  law  for  its  own  termination. 

20  Continue  to  execute  all  the  express  provisions  of  our 
national  government,  and  the  Union  will  endure  for- 
ever— it  being  impossible  to  destroy  it,  except  by  some 
action  not  provided  for  in  the  instrument  itself. 

Again,  if  the  United   States  be  not  a  government 

25  proper,  but  an  association  of  states  in  the  nature  of  con- 
tract merely,  can  it,  as  a  contract,  be  peaceably  unmade 
by  less  than  all  the  parties  who  made  it  ?  One  party  to 
a  contract  may  violate  it — break  it,  so  to  speak ;  but  does 
it  not  require  all  to  lawfully  rescind  it? 

so  Descending  from  these  general  principles,  we  find  the 
proposition  that,  in  legal  contemplation,  the  Union  is 
perpetual,  confirmed  by  the  history  of  the  Union  itself. 
The  Union  is  much  older  than  the  Constitution.  It 
was  formed  in  fact,  by  the  articles  of  association  in 


106  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEE,  LINCOLN 

1774.  It  was  matured  and  continued  by  the  Declara« 
tion  of  Independence  in  1776.  It  was  further  matured, 
and  the  faith  of  all  the  then  thirteen  states  expressly 
plighted  and  engaged  that  it  should  be  perpetual,  by  the 
articles  of  confederation  in  1778.  And,  finally,  in  1787,  5 
one  of  the  declared  objects  for  ordaining  and  establish- 
ing the  Constitution  was  "to  form  a  more  perfect 
Union." 

But  if  destruction  of  the  Union,  by  one,  or  by  a  part 
only,  of  the  states,  be  lawfully  possible,  the  Union  is  10 
less  perfect  than  before,  the  Constitution  having  lost 
the  vital  element  of  perpetuity. 

It  follows,  from  these  views,  that  no  state  upon  its 
own  mere  motion,  can  lawfully  get  out  of  the  Union; 
that  resolves  and  ordinances  to  that  effect  are  legally  15 
void ;  and  that  acts  of  violence  within  any  state  or  states, 
against  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  are  insurrec- 
tionary, or  revolutionary,  according  to  circumstances. 

I,  therefore,  consider  that,  in  view  of  the  Constitu- 
tion and  the  laws,  the  Union  is  unbroken,  and  to  the 
extent  of  my  ability  I  shall  take  care,  as  the  Constitu- 
tion itself  expressly  enjoins  upon  me,  that  the  laws  of 
the  Union  be  faithfully  executed  in  all  the  states.  Doing 
this  I  deem  to  be  only  a  simple  duty  on  my  part;  and 
I  shall  perform  it,  so  far  as  practicable,  unless  my  right-  25 
ful  masters,  the  American  people,  shall  withhold  the  re- 
quisite means,  or,  in  some  authoritative  manner,  direct 
the  contrary.  I  trust  this  will  not  be  regarded  as  a 
menace,  but  only  as  the  declared  purpose  of  the  Union 
that  it  will  constitutionally  defend  and  maintain  itself.  80 

In  doing  this  there  need  be  no  bloodshed  or  violence ; 
and  there  shall  be  none,  unless  it  be  forced  upon  the 
national  authority.  The  power  confided  to  me  will  be 
used  to  hold,  occupy,  and  possess  the  property  and  places 


5 

' 


FIKST    INAUGURAL    ADDEESS  10? 

belonging  to  the  government,  and  to  collect  the  duties 
and  imposts;  but  beyond  what  may  be  but  necessary  for 
these  objects,  there  will  be  no  invasion,  no  using  of 
force  against  or  among  the  people  anywhere.  Where 
5  hostility  to  the  United  States  in  any  interior  locality 
shall  be  so  great  and  universal  as  to  prevent  competent 
resident  citizens  from  holding  the  federal  offices,  there 
will  be  no  attempt  to  force  obnoxious  strangers  among 
the  people  for  that  object.  While  the  strict  legal  right 
10  may  exist  in  the  government  to  enforce  the  exercise  of 
these  offices,  the  attempt  to  do  so  would  be  so  irritating, 
and  so  nearly  impracticable  withal,  I  deem  it  better  to 
forego,  for  the  time,  the  uses  of  such  offices. 

The  mails,  unless  repelled,  will  continue  to  be  fur- 
is  nished  in  all  parts  of  the  Union.     So  far  as  possible,  the 
people  everywhere  shall  have  that  sense  of  perfect  secur- 
ity which  is  most  favorable  to  calm  thought  and  reflec- 
tion.    The  course  here  indicated  will  be  followed,  unless 
current  events  and  experience  shall  show  a  modification 
20  or  change  to  be  proper,  and  in  every  case  and  exigency 
my  best  discretion  will  be  exercised,  according  to  cir- 
cumstances actually  existing,  and  with  a  view  and  a 
hope  of  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  national  troubles,  and 
the  restoration  of  fraternal  sympathies  and  affections. 
25      That  there  are  persons  in  one  section  or  another  who 
seek  to  destroy  the  Union  at  all  events,  and  are  glad  of 
any  pretext  to  do  it,  I  will  neither  affirm  nor  deny;  but 
if  there  be  such,  I  need  address  no  word  to  them.     To 
those,  however,  who  really  love  the  Union,  may  I  not 
so  speak  ? 

Before  entering  upon  so  grave  a  matter  as  the  destruc- 
tion of  our  national  fabric,  with  all  its  benefits,  its 
memories,  and  its  hopes,  would  it  not  be  wise  to  ascer- 
tain precisely  why  we  do  it?  Will  you  hazard  so  des- 


108  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTER,  LINCOLN 

perate  a  step  while  there  is  any  possibility  that  any  por- 
tion of  the  ills  you  fly  from  have  no  real  existence? 
Will  you,  while  the  certain  ills  you  fly  to  are  greater 
than  all  the  real  ones  you  fly  from — will  you  risk  the 
commission  of  so  fearful  a  mistake?  5 

All  profess  to  be  content  in  the  Union,  if  all  constitu- 
tional rights  can  be  maintained.  Is  it  true,  then,  that 
any  right,  plainly  written  in  the  Constitution,  has  been 
denied?  I  think  not.  Happily  the  human  mind  is  so 
constituted  that  no  party  can  reach  to  the  audacity  of  10 
doing  this.  Think,  if  you  can,  of  a  single  instance  in 
which  a  plainly  written  provision  of  the  Constitution 
has  ever  been  denied.  If,  by  the  mere  force  of  numbers, 
a  majority  should  deprive  a  minority  of  any  clearly 
written  constitutional  right,  it  might,  in  a  moral  point  15 
of  view,  justify  revolution — certainly  would  if  such  a 
right  were  a  vital  one.  But  such  is  not  our  case.  All 
the  vital  rights  of  minorities  and  of  individuals  are  so 
plainly  assured  to  them  by  affirmation  and  negations, 
guarantees  and  prohibitions  in  the  Constitution,  that  20 
controversies  never  arise  concerning  them.  But  no  or- 
ganic law  can  ever  be  framed  with  a  provision  specifical- 
ly applicable  to  every  question  which  may  occur  in  prac- 
tical administration.  No  foresight  can  anticipate,  nor 
any  document  of  reasonable  length  contain,  express  pro-  25 
visions  for  all  possible  questions.  Shall  fugitives  from 
labor  be  surrendered  by  national  or  by  state  authority? 
The  Constitution  does  not  expressly  say.  May  Congress 
prohibit  slavery  in  the  territories?  The  Constitution 
does  not  expressly  say.  Must  Congress  protect  slavery  30 
in  the  territories  ?  The  Constitution  does  not  expressly 
say. 

From  questions  of  this  class  spring  all  our  constitu- 
tional controversies,  and  we  divide  upon  them  into  ma- 


FIRST   INAUGURAL    ADDRESS  109 

jorities  and  minorities.  If  the  minority  will  not  ac- 
quiesce, the  majority  must,  or  the  government  must 
cease.  There  is  no  other  alternative;  for  continuing 
the  government  is  acquiescence  on  one  side  or  the  other. 

6  If  a  minority  in  such  case  will  secede  rather  than  ac- 
quiesce, they  make  a  precedent  which,  in  turn,  will 
divide  and  ruin  them;  for  a  minority  of  their  own  will 
secede  from  them  whenever  a  majority  refuses  to  be 
controlled  by  such  minority.  For  instance,  why  may 

10  not  any  portion  of  a  new  confederacy,  a  year  or  two 
hence,  arbitrarily  secede  again,  precisely  as  portions  of 
the  present  Union  now  claim  to  secede  from  it?  All 
who  cherish  disunion  sentiments  are  now  being  educated 
to  the  exact  temper  of  doing  this. 

15  Is  there  such  perfect  identity  of  interests  among  the 
states  to  compose  a  new  Union,  as  to  produce  harmony 
only,  and  prevent  renewed  secession? 

Plainly,  the  central  idea  of  secession  is  the  essence  of 
anarchy.     A  majority  held  in  restraint  by  constitutional 

20  checks  and  limitations,  and  always  changing  easily  with 
deliberate  changes  of  popular  opinions  and  sentiments, 
is  the  only  true  sovereign  of  a  free  people.  Whoever 
rejects  it,  does,  of  necessity,  fly  to  anarchy  or  to  des- 
potism. Unanimity  is  impossible ;  the  rule  of  a  minor- 

25  ity,  as  a  permanent  arrangement,  is  wholly  inadmissible ; 
so  that,  rejecting  the  majority  principle,  anarchy  or  des- 
potism, in  some  form,  is  all  that  is  left. 

I  do  not  forget  the  position  assumed  by  some,  that 
constitutional  questions  are  to  be  decided  by  the  Su- 

30  preme  Court ;  nor  do  I  deny  that  such  decisions  must 
be  binding,  in  any  case,  upon  the  parties  to  a  suit,  as  to 
the  object  of  that  suit,  while  they  are  also  entitled  to 
very  high  respect  and  consideration  in  all  parallel  cases, 
by  all  other  departments  of  the  government.  And  while 


HO  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTER,  LINCOLN 

it  is  obviously  possible  that  such  decisions  may  be  errone- 
ous in  any  given  case,  still,  the  evil  effect  following  it 
being  limited  to  that  particular  case,  with  the  chance 
that  it  may  be  overruled,  and  never  become  a  precedent 
for  other  cases,  can  better  be  borne  than  could  the  evils  5 
of  a  different  practice.  At  the  same  time,  the  candid 
citizen  must  confess  that  if  the  policy  of  the  government 
upon  vital  questions  affecting  the  whole  people,  is  to  be 
irrevocably  fixed  by  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court,  the 
instant  they  are  made  in  ordinary  litigation  between  10 
parties  in  personal  actions,  the  people  will  have  ceased 
to  be  their  own  rulers,  having  to  that  extent  practically 
resigned  their  government  into  the  hands  of  that  emi- 
nent tribunal. 

Nor  is  there  in  this  view  any  assault  upon  the  Court  15 
or  the  Judges.     It  is  a  duty  from  which  they  may  not 
shrink  to  decide  cases  properly  brought  before  them, 
and  it  is  no  fault  of  theirs  if  others  seek  to  turn  their 
decisions   to   political   purposes.     One    section    of   our 
country  believes  slavery  is  right,  and  ought  to  be  ex-  20 
tendec\  ^hile  the  other  believes  it  is  wrong,  and  ought 
nr^t  I'o  be  extended.     This  is  the  only  substantial  dis- 
pute.    The  fugitive   slave  clause  of  the   Constitution, 
and  the  law  for  the  suppression  of  the  foreign  slave- 
trade,  are  each  as  well  enforced,  perhaps,  as  any  law  25 
can  ever  be  in  a  community  where  the  moral  sense  of 
the  people  imperfectly   supports   the  law  itself.     The 
great  body  of  the  people  abide  by  the  dry  legal  obliga- 
tion in  both  cases,  and  a  few  break  over  in  each.     This, 
I  think,  cannot  be  perfectly  cured ;  and  it  would  be  30 
worse,  in  both  cases,  after  the  separation  of  the  sections 
than  before.     The  foreign  slave-trade,  now  imperfectly 
suppressed,  would  be  ultimately  revived,  without  restric- 
tion, in  one  section;  while  fugitive  slaves,  now  only 


FIEST   INAUGUEAL    ADDRESS  HI 

partially  surrendered,  would  not  be  surrendered  at  all 
by  the  other. 

Physically  speaking,  we  cannot  separate.     We  cannot 
remove   our  respective  sections  from  each  other,  nor 

5  build  an  impassable  wall  between  them.  A  husband 
and  wife  may  be  divorced,  and  go  out  of  the  presence 
and  beyond  the  reach  of  each  other;  but  the  different 
parts  of  our  country  cannot  do  this.  They  cannot  but 
remain  face  to  face;  and  intercourse,  either  amicable  or 

10  hostile,  must  continue  between  them.  It  is  impossible 
then  to  make  that  intercourse  more  advantageous  or 
more  satisfactory  after  separation  than  before.  Can 
aliens  make  treaties  easier  than  friends  can  make  laws? 
Can  treaties  be  more  faithfully  enforced  between  aliens 

15  than  laws  can  among  friends?  Suppose  you  go  to  war, 
you  cannot  fight  always;  and  when,  after  much  loss  on 
both  sides,  and  no  gain  on  either,  you  cease  fighting,  the 
identical  old  questions,  as  to  terms  of  intercourse,  are 
again  upon  you. 

20  This  country,  with  its  institutions,  belongs  to  the 
people  who  inhabit  it.  Whenever  they  shall  grow  weary 
of  the  existing  government,  they  can  exercise  their  con- 
stitutional right  of  amending  it,  or  their  revolutionary 
right  to  dismember  or  overthrow  it.  I  cannot  be  ignor- 

25  ant  of  the  fact  that  many  worthy  and  patriotic  citizens 
are  desirous  of  having  the  National  Constitution 
amended.  While  I  make  no  recommendation  of  amend- 
ment, I  fully  recognize  the  rightful  authority  of  the 
people  over  the  whole  subject,  to  be  exercised  in  either 

i«o  of  the  modes  prescribed  in  the  instrument  itself,  and  I 
should,  under  existing  circumstances,  favor,  rather  than 
oppose,  a  fair  opportunity  being  afforded  the  people  to 
act  upon  it.  I  will  venture  to  add.  that  to  me  the  con- 
vention mode  seems  preferable,  in  that  it  allows  amend- 


WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEE,  LINCOLN 

ments  to  originate  with  the  people  themselves,  instead 
of  only  permitting  them  to  take  or  reject  propositions 
originated  by  others,  not  especially  chosen  for  the  pur- 
pose, and  which  might  not  be  precisely  such  as  they 
would  wish  to  either  accept  or  refuse.  I  understand  a ! 
proposed  amendment  to  the  Constitution — which  amend- 
ment, however,  I  have  not  seen — has  passed  Congress, 
to  the  effect  that  the  Federal  Government  shall  never 
interfere  with  the  domestic  institutions  of  the  states,  in- 
cluding that  of  persons  held  to  service.  To  avoid  mis-  ] 
construction  of  what  I  have  said,  I  depart  from  my  pur- 
pose not  to  speak  of  particular  amendments,  so  far  as 
to  say  that,  holding  such  a  provision  now  to  be  implied 
constitutional  law,  I  have  no  objections  to  its  being 
made  express  and  irrevocable.  1 

The  chief  magistrate  derives  all  his  authority  from 
the  people,  and  they  have  conferred  none  upon  him  to 
fix  terms  for  the  separation  of  the  states.  The  people 
themselves  can  do  this  also  if  they  choose;  but  the  execu- 
tive, as  such,  has  nothing  to  do  with  it.  His  duty  is  to  s 
administer  the  represent  government  as  it  came  to  his 
hands,  and  to  transmit  it,  unimpaired  by  him,  to  his 
successor. 

Why  should  there  not  be  a  patient  confidence  in  the 
ultimate  justice  of  the  people?     Is  there  any  better  or! 
equal  hope  in  the  world?     In  our  present  differences,  is 
either  party  without  faith  of  being  in  the  right?     If 
the  Almighty  Ruler  of  Nations,  with  his  eternal  truth 
and  justice,  be  on  your  side  of  the  North,  or  on  yours 
of  the  South,  that  truth  and  that  justice  will  surely ! 
prevail,  by  the  judgment  of  this  great  tribunal  of  the 
American  people. 

By  the  frame  of  the  government  under  which  we  live, 
the  same  people  have  wisely  given  their  public  servants 


FIKST   INAUGUEAL   ADDKESS  113 

but  little  power  for  mischief  and  have  with  equal  wis- 
dom, provided  for  the  return  of  that  little  to  their  own 
hands  at  very  short  intervals.  While  the  people  retain 
iheir  virtue  and  vigilance,  no  administration,  by  any 

5  extreme  of  wickedness  or  folly,  can  very  seriously  injure 
the  government  in  the  short  space  of  four  years. 

My  countrymen,  one  and  all,  think  calmly  and  well 
upon  this  whole  subject.  Nothing  valuable  can  be  lost 
by  taking  time.  If  there  be  an  object  to  hurry  any  of 

10  you  in  hot  haste  to  a  step  which  you  would  never  take 
deliberately,  that  object  will  be  frustrated  by  taking 
time;  but  no  good  object  can  be  frustrated  by  it.  Such 
of  you  as  are  now  dissatisfied,  still  have  the  old  Consti- 
tution unimpaired,  and,  on  the  sensitive  point,  the  laws 

15  of  your  own  framing  under  it ;  while  the  new  adminis- 
tration will  have  no  immediate  power,  if  it  would,  to 
change  either.  If  it  were  admitted  that  you  who  are 
dissatisfied  hold  the  right  side  in  the  dispute,  there  still 
is  np  single  good  reason  for  precipitate  action.  In- 

20  telligence,  patriotism,  Christianity,  and  a  firm  reliance 
on  Him  who  has  never  yet  forsaken  this  favored  land, 
are  still  competent  to  adjust,  in  the  best  way,  all  our 
present  difficulty. 

In  your  hands,  my  dissatisfied  fellow  countrymen, 

25  and  not  in  mine,  is  the  momentous  issue  of  civil  war. 
The  government  will  not  assail  you. 

You  can  have  no  conflict  without  being  yourselves  the 
aggressors.  You  have  no  oath  registered  in  heaven  to 
destroy  the  government  while  I  shall  have  the  most  sol- 

30  emn  one  to  "preserve,  protect,  and  defend"  it. 

I  am  loth  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies,  but 
friends.  We  must  not  be  enemies.  Though  passion 
may  have  strained,  it  must  not  break  our  bonds  of 
affection. 


WASHINGTON,  WEBSTER,  LINCOLN 

The  mystic  chord  of  memory,  stretching  from  every 
battle-field  and  patriot  grave  to  every  living  heart  and 
hearthstone  all  over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the 
chorus  of  the  Union,  when  again  touched,  as  surely  they 
will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our  nature.  s 


LETTEE  TO  HOEACE  GEEELEY. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION. 

Washington,  August  22,  1862. 
Hon.  Horace  Greeley: 

DEAR  SIR: — I  have  just  read  yours  of  the  19th,  ad- 
dressed to  myself  through  the  New  York  Tribune.  If 
there  be  in  it  any  statements  or  assumptions  of  fact 

5  which  I  may  know  to  be  erroneous,  I  do  not,  now  and 
here,  controvert  them.  If  there  be  in  it  any  inferences 
which  I  may  believe  to  be  falsely  drawn,  I  do  not,  now 
and  here,  argue  against  them.  If  there  be  perceptible 
in  it  an  impatient  and  dictatorial  tone,  I  waive  it  in 

10  deference  to  an  old  friend  whose  heart  I  have  always 
supposed  to  be  right. 

As  to  the  policy  I  "seem  to  be  pursuing,"  as  you  say, 
I  have  not  meant  to  leave  anyone  in  doubt. 

I  would  save  the  Union.     I  would  save  it  the  shortest 

is  way  under  the  constitution.  The  sooner  the  national 
authority  can  be  restored,  the  nearer  the  Union  will  be 
the  "Union  as  it  was."  If  there  be  those  who  would 
not  save  the  Union  unless  they  could  at  the  same  time 
save  slavery,  I  do  not  agree  with  them.  If  there  be 

20  those  who  would  not  save  the  Union  unless  they  could 
at  the  same  time  destroy  slavery,  I  do  not  agree  with 
them.  My  paramount  object  in  this  struggle  is  to  save 
the  Union,  and  it  is  not  either  to  save  or  destroy  slavery. 
If  I  could  save  the  Union  without  freeing  any  slave,  I 

25  would  do  it ;  and  if  I  could  do  it  by  freeing  all  the 
slaves,  I  would  do  it;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing 

115 


116  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTER,  LINCOLN 

some  and  leaving  others  alone,  I  would  also  do  that. 
What  I  do  about  slavery  and  the  colored  race,  I  do  be- 
cause I  believe  it  helps  to  save  the  Union;  and  what  I 
forbear,  I  forbear  because  I  do  not  believe  it  would  help 
to  save  the  Union.  I  shall  do  less  whenever  I  shall  be-  5 
lieve  what  I  am  doing  hurts  the  cause,  and  I  shall  do 
more  whenever  I  shall  believe  that  doing  more  will  help 
the  cause.  I  shall  try  to  correct  errors  when  shown  to 
be  errors,  and  I  shall  adopt  new  views  so  fast  as  they 
shall  appear  to  be  true  views.  10 

I  have  stated  my  purpose  according  to  my  view  of 
official  duty;  and  I  intend  no  modifications  of  my  oft- 
expressed  personal  wish  that  all  men  everywhere  could 
be  free.  Yours, 

A.  LINCOLN. 


SPEECH  AT   GETTYSBURG 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
November  19,  1863 

Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought 
forth  upon  this  continent  a  new  nation,  conceived  in 
liberty,  and  dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  all  men 
are  created  equal.  Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil 

5  war,  testing  whether  that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  con- 
ceived and  so  dedicated,  can  long  endure.  We  are  met 
on  a  great  battle-field  of  that  war.  We  have  come  to 
dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field  as  a  final  resiing-place 
for  those  who  here  gave  their  lives  that  that  nation 

10  might  live.  It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper  that  we 
should  do  this.  But  in  a  larger  sense  we  cannot  dedi- 
cate, we  cannot  consecrate,  we  cannot  hallow  this 
ground.  The  brave  men,  living  and  dead,  who  struggled 
here,  have  consecrated  it  far  above  our  power  to  add  or 

15  detract.  The  world  will  little  note,  nor  long  remember, 
what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never  forget  what  they  did 
here.  It  is  for  us,  the  living,  rather  to  be  dedicated 
here  to  the  unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought  here 
have  thus  far  so  nobly  advanced.  It  is  rather  for  us 

20  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining  before 
us,  that  from  these  honored  dead  we  take  increased  de- 
votion to  that  cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last  full 
measure  of  devotion;  that  we  here  highly  resolve  that 
these  dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain ;  that  this  nation, 

25  under  God,  shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom,  and  that 
government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the 
people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth. 

117 


SECOND   INAUGURAL   ADDRESS 

ABRAHAM      LINCOLN 
March  4,  1865 

Fellow-Countrymen — At  this  second  appearing  to 
take  the  oath  of  the  Presidential  office,  there  is  less  occa- 
sion for  an  extended  address  than  there  was  at  the 
first.  Then  a  statement  somewhat  in  detail  of  a  course 
to  be  pursued  seemed  very  fitting  and  proper.  Now,  at  5 
the  expiration  of  four  years,  during  which  public 
declarations  have  been  constantly  called  forth  on  every 
point  and  phase  of  the  great  contest  which  still  absorbs 
the  attention  and  engrosses  the  energies  of  the  nation, 
little  that  is  new  could  be  presented.  10 

The  progress  of  our  arms,  upon  which  all  else  chiefly 
depends,  is  as  well  known  to  the  public  as  to  myself, 
and  it  is,  I  trust,  reasonably  satisfactory  and  encourag- 
ing to  all.  With  high  hope  for  the  future,  no  predic- 
tion in  regard  to  it  is  ventured.  15 

On  the  occasion  corresponding  to  this  four  years  ago, 
all  thoughts  were  anxiously  directed  to  an  impending 
civil  war.  All  dreaded  it,  all  sought  to  avoid  it.  While 
the  inaugural  address  was  being  delivered  from  this 
place,  devoted  altogether  to  saving  the  Union  without  20 
war,  insurgent  agents  were  in  the  city,  seeking  to  de- 
stroy it  with  war — seeking  to  dissolve  the  Union  and 
divide  the  effects  by  negotiation.  Both  parties  depre- 
cated war,  but  one  of  them  would  make  war  rather  than 
let  the  nation  survive,  and  the  other  would  accept  war  25 
rather  than  let  it  perish,  and  the  war  came.  One-eighth 

118 


SECOND  INAUGUEAL  ADDRESS  H9 

of  the  whole  population  were  colored  slaves,  not  dis- 
tributed generally  over  the  Union,  but  localized  in  the 
southern  part  of  it.  These  slaves  constituted  a  peculiar 
and  powerful  interest.  All  knew  that  this  interest  was 

5  somehow  the  cause  of  the  war.  To  strengthen,  perpetu- 
ate, and  extend  this  interest  was  the  object  for  which 
the  insurgents  would  rend  the  Union  by  war,  while  the 
Government  claimed  no  right  to  do  more  than  to  restrict 
the  territorial  enlargement  of  it. 

10  Xeither  party  expected  for  the  war  the  magnitude 
or  the  duration  which  it  has  already  attained.  Neither 
anticipated  that  the  cause  of  the  conflict  might  cease, 
even  before  the  conflict  itself  should  cease.  Each  looked 
for  an  easier  triumph,  and  a  result  less  fundamental 

15  and  astounding. 

Both  read  the  same  Bible  and  pray  to  the  same  God, 
and  each  invokes  His  aid  against  the  other.  It  may 
seem  strange  that  any  men  should  dare  to  ask  a  just 
God's  assistance  in  wringing  their  bread  from  the  sweat 

20  of  other  men's  faces,  but  let  us  judge  not,  that  we  be  not 
judged.  The  prayer  of  both  could  not  be  answered. 
That  of  neither  has  been  answered  fully.  The 
Almighty  has  His  own  purposes.  Woe  unto  the  world 
because  of  offences,  for  it  must  needs  be  that  offences 

25  come,  but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom  the  offence  cometh. 
If  we  shall  suppose  that  American  slavery  is  one  of  these 
offences  which,  in  the  providence  of  God,  must  needs 
come,  but  which  having  continued  through  His  ap- 
pointed time,  He  now  wills  to  remove,  and  that  He  gives 

30  to  both  North  and  South  this  terrible  war  as  the  woe 
due  to  those  by  whom  the  offence  came,  shall  we  discern 
there  any  departure  from  those  Divine  attributes  which 
the  believers  in  a  living  God  always  ascribe  to  Him? 
Fondly  do  we  hope,  fervently  do  we  pray,  that  this 


120  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTER,  LINCOLN 

mighty  scourge  of  war  may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet  if 
God  wills  that  it  continue  until  all  the  wealth  piled  by 
the  bondsman's  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unre- 
quited toil  shall  be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop  of  blood 
drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be  paid  by  another  drawn  with  5 
the  sword,  as  was  said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so,  still 
it  must  be  said,  that  the  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true 
and  righteous  altogether. 

With  malice  towards  none,  with  charity  for  all,  with 
firmness  in  the  right  as  God  gives  us"  to  see  the  right,  10 
let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we  are  in,  to  bind 
up  the  nation's  wounds,  to  care  for  him  who  shall  have 
borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow  and  his  orphans,  to 
do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  a 
lasting  peace  among  ourselves  and  with  all  nations.  „ 


LAST  PUBLIC  ADDRESS 

BY    ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

Washington,  April  11,  1865. 

We  meet  this  evening  not  in  sorrow,  but  in  gladness 
of  heart.  The  evacuation  of  Petersburg  and  Richmond, 
and  the  surrender  of  the  principal  insurgent  army,  give 
hope  of  a  righteous  and  speedy  peace,  whose  joyous  ex- 

5  pression  cannot  be  restrained.  In  the  midst  of  this, 
however,  He  from  whom  all  blessings  flow  must  not  be 
forgotten.  A  call  for  a  national  thanksgiving  is  being 
prepared,  and  will  be  duly  promulgated.  Xor  must 
those  whose  harder  part,  gives  us  the  cause  of  rejoicing 

10  be  overlooked.  Their  honors  must  not  be  parceled  out 
with  others.  I  myself  was  near  the  front,  and  had  the 
high  pleasure  of  transmitting  much  of  the  good  news 
to  you;  but  no  part  of  the  honor  for  plan  or  execution 
is  mine.  To  General  Grant,  his  skilful  officers  and 

is  brave  men,  all  belongs.  The  gallant  navy  stood  ready, 
but  was  not  in  reach  to  take  active  part. 

By  these  recent  successes  the  reinauguration  of  the 
national  authority — reconstruction — which  has  had  a 
large  share  of  thought  from  the  first,  is  pressed  much 

20  more  closely  upon  our  attention.  It  is  fraught  with 
great  difficulty.  Unlike  a  case  of  war  between  inde- 
pendent nations,  there  is  no  authorized  organ  for  us  to 
treat  with — no  one  man  has  authority  to  give  up  the 
rebellion  for  any  other  man.  We  simply  must  begin 

25  with  and  mold  from  disorganized  and  discordant  ele- 
ments. Xor  is  it  a  small  additional  embarrassment 
that  we,  the  loyal  people,  differ  among  ourselves  as  to 

121 


122  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEE,  LINCOLN 

the  mode,  manner  and  measure  of  reconstruction.  As 
a  general  rule,  I  abstain  from  reading  the  reports  of 
attacks  upon  myself,  wishing  not  to  be  provoked  by  that 
to  which  I  cannot  properly  offer  an  answer.  In  spite  oi 

5  this  precaution,  however,  it  comes  to  my  knowledge  that 
I  am  much  censured  for  some  supposed  agency  in  setting 
up  and  seeking  to  sustain  the  new  State  government  of 
Louisiana. 

In  this  I  have  done  just  so  much  as,  and  no  more  than, 

10  the  public  knows.  In  the  annual  message  of  December, 
1863,  and  in  the  accompanying  proclamation,  I  presented 
a  plan  of  reconstruction,  as  the  phrase  .goes,  which  I 
promised,  if  adopted  by  any  State,  should  be  acceptable 
to  and  sustained  by  the  executive  government  of  the 

15  nation.  I  distinctly  stated  that  this  was  not  the  only 
plan  which  might  possibly  be  acceptable,  and  I  also  dis- 
tinctly protested  that  the  executive  claimed  no  right  to 
say  when  or  whether  members  should  be  admitted  to 
seats  in  Congress  from  such  States.  This  plan  was  in 

20  advance  submitted  to  the  then  Cabinet,  and  distinctly 
approved  by  every  member  of  it.  One  of  them  suggested 
that  I  should  then  and  in  that  connection  apply  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation  to  the  theretofore  excepted 
parts  of  Virginia  and  Louisiana ;  that  I  should  drop  the 

25  suggestion  about  apprenticeship  for  freed  people,  and 
that  I  should  omit  the  protest  against  my  own  power 
in  regard  to  the  admission  of  members  to  Congress.  But 
even  he  approved  every  part  and  parcel  of  the  plan 
which  has  since  been  employed  or  touched  by  the  action 

30  of  Louisiana. 

The  new  constitution  of  Louisiana,  declaring  emanci- 
pation for  the  whole  State,  practically  applies  the  procla- 
mation to  the  part  previously  excepted.  It  does  not 
adopt  apprenticeship  for  freed  people,  and  it  is  silent, 


LAST  PUBLIC  ADDEESS  123 

as  it  could  not  well  be  otherwise,  about  the  admission 
of  members  to  Congress.  So  that,  as  it  applies  to  Louis- 
iana, every  member  of  the  Cabinet  fully  approved  the 
plan.  The  message  went  to  Congress,  and  I  received 

5  many  commendations  of  the  plan,  written  and  verbal, 
and  not  a  single  objection  to  it  from  any  professed  eman- 
cipationist came  to  my  knowledge  until  after  the  news 
reached  Washington  that  the  people  of  Louisiana  had 
begun  to  move  in  accordance  with  it.  From  about  July, 

10  1862,  I  had  corresponded  with  different  persons  sup- 
posed to  be  interested  [in]  seeking  a  reconstruction  of  a 
State  government  for  Louisiana.  When  the  message  of 
1863,  with  the  plan  before  mentioned,  reached  New  Or~ 
leans,  General  Banks  wrote  me  that  he  was  confident 

15  that  the  people,  with  his  military  cooperation,  would  re- 
construct substantially  on  that  plan.  I  wrote  to  him 
and  some  of  them  to  try  it.  They  tried  it,  and  the 
result  is  known.  Such  has  been  my  only  agency  in  get- 
ting up  the  Louisiana  government. 

20  As  to  sustaining  it,  my  promise  is  out,  as  before  stated. 
But  as  bad  promises  are  better  broken  than  kept,  I  shall 
treat  this  as  a  bad  promise,  and  break  it  whenever  I  shall 
be  convinced  that  keeping  it  is  adverse  to  the  public  in- 
terest; but  I  have  not  yet  been  so  convinced.  I  have 

25  been  shown  a  letter  on  this  subject,  supposed  to  be  an 
able  one,  in  which  the  writer  expresses  regret  that  my 
mind  has  not  seemed  to  be  definitely  fixed  on  the  ques- 
tion whether  the  seceded  States,  so  called,  are  in  the 
Union  or  out  of  it.  It  would  perhaps  add  astonishment 

so  to  his  regret  were  he  to  learn  that  since  I  have  found 
professed  Union  men  endeavoring  to  make  that  question, 
I  have  purposely  forborne  any  public  expression  upon  it. 
As  appears  to  me,  that  question  has  not  been,  nor  yet  is, 
a  practically  material  one,  and  that  any  discussion  of  it, 


124  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEE,  LINCOLN 

while  it  thus  remains  practically  immaterial,  could  have 
no  effect  other  than  the  mischievous  one  of  dividing  our 
friends.  As  yet,  whatever  it  may  hereafter  become,  that 
question  is  bad  as  the  basis  of  a  controversy,  and  good 
for  nothing  at  all — a  merely  pernicious  abstraction.  5 

We  all  agree  that  the  seceded  States,  so  called,  are  out 
of  their  proper  practical  relation  with  the  Union,  and 
that  the  sole  object  of  the  government,  civil  and  mili- 
tary, in  regard  to  those  States  is  to  again  get  them  into 
that  proper  practical  relation.  I  believe  that  it  is  not  1 
only  possible,  but  in  fact  easier,  to  do  this  without  decid- 
ing or  even  considering  whether  these  States  have  ever 
been  out  of  the  Union,  than  with  it.  Finding  themselves 
safely  at  home,  it  would  be  utterly  immaterial  whether 
they  had  ever  been  abroad.  Let  us  all  join  in  doing  the  1 
acts  necessary  to  restoring  the  proper  practical  relations 
between  these  States  and  the  Union,  and  each  forever 
after  innocently  indulge  his  own  opinion  whether  in 
doing  the  acts  he  brought  the  States  from  without  into 
the  Union,  or  only  gave  them  proper  assistance,  they  2 
never  having  been  out  of  it.  The  amount  of  constitu- 
ency, so  to  speak,  on  which  the  new  Louisiana  govern- 
ment rests,  would  be  more  satisfactory  to  all  if  it  con- 
tained 50,000,  01  ?0,000,  or  even  20,000,  instead  of 
only  about  12,000,  as  it  does.  It  is  also  unsatisfactory  2 
to  some  that  the  elective  franchise  is  not  given  to  the 
colored  man.  I  would  myself  prefer  that  it  were  now 
conferred  on  the  very  intelligent,  and  on  those  who  serve 
our  cause  as  soldiers. 

Still,  the  question  is  not  whether  the  Louisiana  gov-  3 
ernment,  as  it  stands,  is  quite  all  that  is  desirable.     The 
question  is,  will  it  be  wiser  to  take  it  as  it  is  and  help 
to  improve  it,  or  to  reject  and  disperse  it  ?     Can  Louis- 
iana be  brought  into  proper  practical  relation  with  the 


LAST  PUBLIC  ADDRESS  125 

Union  sooner  by  sustaining  or  by  discarding  her  new 
State  government  ?  Some  twelve  thousand  voters  in  the 
heretofore  slave  State  of  Louisiana  have  sworn  allegiance 
to  the  Union,  assumed  to  be  the  rightful  political  power 
of  the  State,  held  elections,  organized  a  State  govern- 
ment, adopted  a  free  State  constitution,  giving  the  bene- 
fit of  public  schools  equally  to  black  and  white,  and  em- 
powering the  legislature  to  confer  the  elective  franchise 
upon  the  colored  man.  Their  legislature  has  already 

0  voted  to  ratify  the  constitutional  amendment  recently 
passed  by  Congress,  abolishing  slavery  throughout  the 
nation.  These  12,000  persons  are  thus  fully  committed 
to  the  Union  and  to  perpetual  freedom  in  the  State — 
committed  to  the  very  things,  and  nearly  all  the  things, 

5  the  nation  wants — and  they  ask  the  nation's  recognition 
and  its  assistance  to  make  good  their  committal. 

Now,  if  we  reject  and  spurn  them,  we  do  our  utmost 
to  disorganize  and  disperse  them.  We,  in  effect,  say  to 
the  white  man:  You  are  worthless  or  worse;  we  will 

9  neither  help  you,  nor  be  helped  by  you.  To  the  blacks 
we  say :  This  cup  of  liberty  which  these,  your  old  mas- 
ters, hold  to  your  lips  we  will  dash  from  you,  and  leave 
you  to  the  chances  of  gathering  the  spilled  and  scattered 
contents  in  some  vague  and  undefined  when,  where,  and 

5  how.  If  this  course,  discouraging  and  paralyzing  both 
white  and  black,  has  any  tendency  to  bring  Louisiana 
into  proper  practical  relations  with  the  Union,  I  have 
so  far  been  unable  to  perceive  it.  If,  on  the  contrary, 
we  recognize  and  sustain  the  new  government  of  Louis- 

o  iana,  the  converse  of  all  this  is  made  true.  We  encour- 
age the  hearts  and  nerve  the  arms  of  the  12,000  to 
adhere  to  their  work,  and  argue  for  it,  and  proselyte  for 
it,  and  fight  for  it,  and  feed  it,  and  grow  it,  and  ripen  it 
to  a  complete  success.  The  colored  man,  too,  in  seeing 


126  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTER,  LINCOLN 

all  united  for  him,  is  inspired  with  vigilance,  and  energy, 
and  daring,  to  the  same  end.  Grant  that  he  desires  the 
elective  franchise,  will  he  not  attain  it  sooner  by  saving 
the  already  advanced  steps  toward  it  than  by  running 
backward  over  them  ?  Concede  that  the  new  govern-  5 
ment  of  Louisiana  is  only  to  what  it  should  be  as  the 
egg  is  to  the  fowl,  we  shall  sooner  have  the  fowl  by 
hatching  the  egg  than  by  smashing  it. 

Again,  if  we  reject  Louisiana  we  also  reject  one  vote 
in  favor  of  the  proposed  amendment  to  the  national  Con-  ] 
stitution.     To  meet  this  proposition  it  has  been  argued 
that  no  more  than  three-fourths  of  those  States  which 
have  not  attempted  secession  are  necessary  to  validly 
ratify  the  amendment.     I  do  not  commit  myself  against 
this  further  than  to  say  that  such  a  ratification  would  I 
be  questionable,  and  sure  to  be  persistently  questioned, 
while  a  ratification  by  three-fourths  of  all  the  States 
would  be  unquestioned  and  unquestionable.     I  repeat 
the  question:     Can  Louisiana  be  brought  into  proper 
practical  relation  with  the  Union  sooner  by  sustaining  or  ; 
by  discarding  her  new  State  government?     What  has 
been  said  of  Louisiana  will  apply  generally  to  other 
States.     And  yet  so  great  peculiarities  pertain  to  each 
State,  and  such  important  and  sudden  changes  occur 
in  the  same  State,  and  withal  so  new  and  unprecedented  ; 
is  the  whole  case  that  no  exclusive  and  inflexible  plan 
can  safely  be  prescribed  as  to  details  and  collaterals. 
Such  exclusive  and  inflexible  plan  would  surely  become 
a  new  entanglement.     Important  principles  may   and 
must  be  inflexible.     In  the  present  situation,   as  the  ! 
phrase  goes,  it  may  be  my  duty  to  make  some  new  an- 
nouncement to  the  people  of  the  South.     I  am  consider- . 
ing,  and  shall  not  fail  to  act  when  satisfied  that  action 
will  be  proper. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN". 

From   "THE    SPECTATOR,"   LONDON,   APRIL   25,   AND 
MAY  2,  1891. 


THE  English-speaking  world  will  never  read  the  story 
of  the  Rebellion  without  a  thrill  of  pride  and  exultation. 
Heroic  and  inspiring  as  was  the  achievement  of  the 
Puritans  in  throwing  off  the  tyranny  of  the  Stuarts, 

>  and  establishing  in  its  place,  not  license  or  anarchy, 
but  a  wise  and  liberal  polity,  the  veiling  hand  of  time 
diminishes  for  modern  men  its  distinctness  and  reality. 
With  the  defense  of  the  Union  it  is  different.  We  can 
almost  hear  the  reverberations  of  the  cannon  at  Vicks- 

ro  burg,  and  our  hands  may  still  clasp  the  hands  of  those 
who  fought  for  the  life  of  the  Nation  at  Gettysburg 
and  Chattanooga.  The  glory  won  by  the  English  race 
is  so  near,  that  it  still  stirs  the  blood  like  a  trumpet 
to  read  of  the  patriotism  of  the  men  who  fought  at 

15  the  call  of  Lincoln.  Nothing  is  more  admirable,  as 
nothing  is  more  dramatic  in  recorded  history,  than 
the  manner  in  which  the  North  sprang  to  arms  at  the 
news  that  the  nation's  flag  had  been  fired  on  at  Fort 
Sumter.  It  is  all  very  well  to  hire  soldiers  at  so  much 

•o  a  day  and  send  them  to  the  front  with  salutes  and  re- 
joicings, but  the  action  of  the  Eastern  and  Western 
States  meant  a  great  deal  more,  than  this.  It  meant  a 
voluntary  sacrifice  on  the  part  of  men  who  had  nothing 
to  gain  and  everything  to  lose  by  throwing  over  a  life 

!5  of  ease  or  profit  to  shoulder  a  musket  or  serve  a  gun. 
A  continent  was  on  fire. 

127 


12%  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTER,  LINCOLN 

It  is  one  of  the  greatest  of  Lincoln's  claims  to  ad- 
miration, that  though  he  sympathized  with  the  fervor 
and  enthusiasm  of  his  countrymen,  he  .was  not  carried 
away  by  it.  He  was  one  of  those  rare  men  who  can  at 
once  be  zealous  and  moderate,  who  are  kindled  by  great 
ideas,  and  who  yet  retain  complete  control  of  the  critical 
faculty.  And  more  than  this,  Lincoln  was  a  man  who 
could  be  reserved  without  the  chill  of  reserve.  Again, 
he  could  make  allowance  for  demerits  in.  a  principle  or 
a  human  instrument,  without  ever  falling  into  the  pur-  ] 
blindness  of  cynicism.  He  often  acted  in  his  dealings 
with  men  much  as  a  professed  cynic  might  have  acted ; 
but  his  conduct  was  due,  not  to  any  disbelief  in  virtue, 
but  to  a  wide  tolerance  and  a  clear  knowledge  of  human 
nature.  He  saw  things  as  a  disillusionised  man  sees  ] 
them,  and  yet  in  the  bad  sense  he  never  suffered  any 
disillusionment.  For  suffusing  and  combining  his  other 
qualities  was  a  serenity  of  mind  which  affected  the  whole 
man.  He  viewed  the  world  too  much  as  a  whole  to  be 
greatly  troubled  or  perplexed  over  its  accidents.  To  this  ; 
serenity  of  mind  was  due  an  almost  total  absence  of 
indignation  in  the  ordinary  sense.  Generals  might  half- 
ruin  the  cause  for  the  sake  of  some  trumpery  quarrel, 
or  in  order  to  gain  some  petty  personal  advantage ;  office- 
seekers  might  worry  at  the  very  crisis  of  the  nation's  : 
fate ;  but  none  of  the  pettiness,  the  spites,  or  the  follies 
could  rouse  in  Lincoln  the  impatience  or  the  indigna- 
tion that  would  have  been  wakened  in  ordinary  men. 
Pity,  and  nothing  else,  was  the  feeling  such  exhibitions 
occasioned  him.  Lincoln  seems  to  have  felt  the  excuse  < 
that  tempers  the  guilt  of  every  mortal  transgression. 
His  largeness  and  tenderness  of  nature  made  him  at 
heart  h  universal  apologist.  He  was,  of  course,  too 
practical  and  too  great  a  statesman  to  let  this  sensibility 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  129 

to  the  excuses  that  can  be  made  for  human  conduct  in- 
duce him  to  allow  misdeeds'  to  go  unpunished  or  un- 
corrected.  He  acted  as  firmly  and  as  severely  as  if  he 
had  experienced  the  most  burning  indignation;  but  the 
moment  we  come  to  Lincoln's  real  feelings,  we  see  that 
he  is  never  incensed,  and  that,  even  in  its  most  legitimate 
form,  the  desire  for  retribution  is  absent  from  his  mind. 
Tout  comprendre,  c'est  tout  pardonner,  was  the  secret 
of  his  attitude  towards  human  affairs.  That  is  not  the 
highest  wisdom;  but  it  errs  on  the  right,  and  also  on  the 
rare,  side. 

So  much  for  the  intellectual  side  of  Lincoln's  nature. 
Behind  it  was  a  personality  of  singular  charm.  Tender- 
ness and  humor  were  its  main  characteristics.  As  he 
rode  through  a  forest  in  spring-time,  he  would  keep 
on  dismounting  to  put  back  the  young  birds  that  had 
fallen  from  their  nests.  There  was  not  a  situation  in 
life  which  could  not  afford  him  the  subject  for  a  kindly 
smile.  It  needed  a  character  so  full  of  gentleness  and 
good  temper  to  sustain  the  intolerable  weight  of  re- 
sponsibility which  the  war  threw  upon  the  shoulders  of 
the  President.  Most  men  would  have  been  crushed  by 
the  burden.  His  serenity  of  temper  saved  Lincoln. 
Except  when  the  miserable  necessity  of  having  to  sign 
the  order  for  a  military  execution  took  away  his  sleep, 
he  carried  on  his  work  without  any  visible  sign  of  over- 
strain. Not  the  least  of  Lincoln's  achievements  is 
to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  though  for  four  years  he 
wielded  a  power  and  a  personal  authority  greater  than 
that  exercised  by  any  monarch  on  earth,  he  never  gave 
satirist  or  caricaturist  the  slightest  real  ground  for  de- 
claring that  his  sudden  rise  to  world-wide  fame  had 
turned  the  head  of  the  backwoodsman.  Tiider  the  cir- 
cumstances, there  would  have  been  every  excuse  for 


130 

Lincoln,  had  he  assumed  to  his  subordinates  somewhat 
the  bearing  of  the  autocrat  he  was.  It  is  a  sign  of 
the  absolute  sincerity  and  good  sense  of  the  President 
that  he  was  under  no  sort  of  a  temptation  to  do  so. 
Lincoln  was  before  all  things  a  gentleman,  and  the  good 
taste  inseparable  from  that  character  made  it  impos- 
sible for  him  to  be  spoiled  by  power  and  position.  This 
grace  and  strength  of  character  is  never  better  shown 
than  in  the  letters  to  his  generals,  victorious  or  de- 
feated. When  they  were  beaten,  he  was  anxious  to  share 
the  blame;  when  victorious,  he  was  instant  to  deny  by 
anticipation  any  rumor  that  he  had  inspired  the  strategy 
of  the  campaign.  If  a  general  had  to  be  reprimanded, 
he  did  it  as  only  the  most  perfect  of  gentlemen  could 
do  it.  He  could  convey  the  severest  censure  without  in- 
flicting any  wound  that  would  not  heal,  and  this  not 
by  using  roundabout  expressions,  but  in  the  plainest 
language.  "He  writes  to  me  like  a  father,"  were  the 
heart-felt  words  of  a  commander  who  had  been  reproved 
by  the  President.  Throughout  these  communications, 
the  manner  in  which  he  not  only  conceals,  but  alto- 
gether sinks,  all  sense  that  the  men  to  whom  they 
were  addressed  were,  in  effect,  his  subordinates,  is 
worthy  of  special  note.  "A  breath  could  make  them, 
as  a  breath  had  made,"  and  yet  Lincoln  writes  as  if 
his  generals  were  absolutely  independent. 

We  have  said  something  of  Lincoln  as  a  man  and 
as  the  leader  of  a  great  cause.  We  desire  now  to  dwell 
upon  a  point  which  is  often  neglected  in  considering  the 
career  of  the  hero  of  the  Union,  but  which,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  letters,  is  of  absorbing  interest.  Xo 
criticism  of  Mr.  Lincoln  can  be  in  any  sense  adequate 
which  does  not  deal  with  his  astonishing  power  over 
words.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  of  him  that  he  is 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  131 

among  the  greatest  masters  of  prose  ever  produced  by 
the  English  race.  Self-educated,  or  rather  not  educated 
at  all  in  the  ordinary  sense,  as  he  was,  he  contrived  to 
obtain  an  insight  and  power  in  the  handling  of  the 

5  mechanism  of  letters  such  as  has  been  given  to  few  men 
of  his,  or,  indeed,  in  any  age.  That  the  gift  of  oratory 
should  be  a  natural  gift,  is  understandable  enough,  for 
the  methods  of  the  orator,  like  those  of  the  poet,  are 
primarily  sensuous,  and  may  well  be  instinctive.  Mr. 

10  Lincoln's  achievement  seems  to  show  that  no  less  is  the 
writing  of  prose  an  endowment  of  Nature.  Mr.  Lincoln 
did  not  get  his  ability  to  handle  prose  through  his 
gift  of  speech.  That  these  are  separate,  though  co- 
ordinate, faculties,  is  a  matter  beyond  dispute,  for  many 

15  of  the  great  orators  of  the  world  have  proved  them- 
selves exceedingly  inefficient  in  the  matter  of  deliberate- 
composition.  Mr.  Lincoln  enjoyed  both  gifts.  His  let- 
ters, dispatches,  memoranda,  and  written  addresses  are 
even  better  than  his  speeches;  and  in  speaking  thus  of 

20  Mr.  Lincoln's  prose,  we  are  not  thinking  merely  of 
certain  pieces  of  inspired  rhetoric.  We  do  not  praise 
his  work  because,  like  Mr.  Bright,  he  could  exercise 
his  power  of  coining  illuminating  phrases  as  effectively 
upon  paper  as  on  the  platform.  It  is  in  his  conduct  of 

25  the  pedestrian  portions  of  composition  that  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's genius  for  prose  style  is  exhibited.  Mr.  Bright's 
writing  cannot  claim  to  answer  the  description  which 
Hazlitt  has  given  of  the  successful  prose-writer's  per- 
formance. Mr.  Lincoln's  can.  What  Hazlitt  says  is 

so  complete  and  perfect  in  definition.  He  tells  us  that  the 
prose-writer  so  uses  his  pen  "that  he  loses  no  particle 
of  the  exact  characteristic  extreme  impression  of  the 
thing  he  writes  about;"  and  with  equal  significance  he 
points  out  that  "the  prose-writer  is  master  of  his  ma- 


132  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTEK,  LINCOLN 

terials,"  as  "the  poet  is  the  slave  of  his  style."  If 
these  words  convey  a  true  definition,  then  Mr.  Lincoln 
is  a  master  of  prose.  Whatever  the  subject  he  has  in 
hand,  whether  it  be  bald  or  impassioned,  business-like 
or  pathetic,  we  feel  that  we  "lose  no  particle  of  the  ! 
exact  characteristic  extreme  impression"  of  the  thing 
written  about.  "We  have  it  all,  and  not  merely  a  part. 
Every  line  shows  that  the  writer  is  master  of  his  ma- 
terials; that  he  guides  the  words,  never  the  words  him. 
This  is,  indeed,  the  predominant  note  throughout  all  K 
Mr.  Lincoln's  work.  We  feel  that  he  is  like  the  en- 
gineer who  controls  some  mighty  reservoir.  As  he  de- 
sires, he  opens  the  various  sluice-gates,  but  for  no  in- 
stant is  the  water  not  under  his  entire  control.  We 
are  sensible  in  reading  Mr.  Lincoln's  writings,  that  an  1! 
immense  force  is  gathered  up  behind  him,  and  that  in 
each  jet  that  flows,  every  drop  is  meant.  Some  writers 
only  leak;  others  half  flow  through  determined  chan- 
nels, half  leak  away  their  words  like  a  broken  lock 
when  it  is  emptying.  The  greatest,  like  Mr.  Lincoln,  a 
send  out  none  but  clear-shaped  streams. 

The  "Second  Inaugural" — a  written  composition, 
though  read  to  the  citizens  from  the  steps  of  the  Capi- 
tol— well  illustrates  our  words.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  to  tell 
his  countrymen,  that,  after  four  years'  struggle,  the  war  2J 
was  practically  ended.  The  four  years'  agony,  the  pas- 
sion of  love  which  he  felt  for  his  country,  his  joy  in 
her  salvation,  his  sense  of  tenderness  for  those  who  fell, 
of  pity  mixed  with  sternness  for  the  men  who  had 
deluged  the  land  with  blood, — all  the  thoughts  these  H 
feelings  inspired  were  behind  Lincoln  pressing  for  ex- 
pression. A  writer  of  less  power  would  have  been  over- 
whelmed. Lincoln  remained  master  of  the  emotional 
and  intellectual  situation.  In  three  or  four  hundred 


ABEAHAM  LINCOLN  133 

words  that  burn  with  the  heat  of  their  compression, 
he  tells  the  history  of  the  war  and  reads  its  lesson.  No 
nobler  thoughts  were  ever  conceived.  No  man  ever 
found  words  more  adequate  to  his  desire.  Here  is  the 

5  whole  tale  of  the  nation's  shame  and  misery,  of  her 
heroic  struggles  to  free  herself  therefrom,  and  of  her 
victory.  Had  Lincoln  written  a  hundred  times  as  much 
more,  he  could  not  have  said  more  fully  what  he  desired 
to  say.  Every  thought  receives  its  complete  expression 

.0  and  there  is  no  word  employed  which  does  not  directly 
and  manifestly  contribute  to  the  development  of  the 
central  thought. 

As  an  example  of  Lincoln's  more  familiar  style,  we 
may  quote  from  that  inimitable  series  of  letters  to  his 

5  generals  to  which  we  made  allusion  on  a  former  oc- 

.  casion.  The  following  letter  was  addressed  to  General 
Hooker  on  his  being  appointed  to  command  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac,  after  mismanagement  and  failure  had 
made  a  change  of  generals  absolutely  necessary: — 

0  "I  have  placed  you  at  the  head  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 
Of  course  I  have  done  this  upon  -what  appears  to  me  to  be 
sufficient  reasons,  and  yet  I  think  it  best  for  you  to  know  that 
there  are  some  things  in  regard  to  which  I  am  not  quite  satis- 
fied with  you.  I  believe  you  to  be  a  brave  and  skilful  soldier, 

5  which,  of  course,  I  like.  I  also  believe  you  do  not  mix  politics 
with  your  profession,  in  which  you  are  right.  You  have  con- 
fidence in  yourself,  which  is  a  valuable,  if  not  an  indispensable, 
quality.  You  are  ambitious,  which,  within  reasonable  bounds, 
does  good  rather  than  harm;  but  I  think  that,  during  General 

0  Burnside's  command  of  the  army,  you  have  taken  counsel  of 
your  ambition,  and  thwarted  him  as  much  as  you  could,  in 
which  you  did  a  great  wrong  to  the  country  and  to  a  most 
meritorious  and  honorable  brother-officer.  I  have  heard,  in 
such  a  way  as  to  believe  it,  of  your  recently  saying  that  both 

$  the  army  and  the  Government  needed  a  dictator.    Of  course,  it 


134  WASHINGTON,  WEBSTER,  LINCOLN 

was  not  for  this,  but  in  spite  of  it,  that  I  have  given  you  the 
command.  Only  those  generals  who  gain  successes  can  set  up 
dictators.  What  I  now  ask  of  you  is  military  success,  and  I 
will  risk  the  dictatorship.  The  Government  will  support  you  to 
the  utmost  of  its  ability,  which  is  neither  more  nor  less  than 
it  has  done  and  will  do  for  all  commanders.  I  much  fear  that 
the  spirit,  which  you  have  aided  to  infuse  into  the  army,  of 
criticising  their  commander  and  withholding  confidence  from 
him,  will  now  turn  upon  you.  I  shall  assist  you  as  far  as  I 
can  to  put  it  down.  Neither  you  nor  Napoleon,  if  he  were 
alive  again,  could  get  any  good  out  of  an  army  while  such  a 
spirit  prevails  in  it.  And  now  beware  of  rashness.  Beware 
of  rashness,  but  with  energy  and  sleepless  vigilance  go  forward 
and  give  us  victories. ' ' 

It  is  possible  that  this  letter  may  sound  too  severe  in 
tone  Avhen  read  without  the  context.  If,  however,  the 
condition  of  the  array  at  the  time,  and  the  intrigues. 
of  the  various  commanders  are  considered,  it  will  be 
recognized  as  erring  in  no  way  on  the  side  of  harsh- 
ness. •The  irony  is  particularly  delightful,  and  in  no 
sense  forced. 


NOTES 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

FAREWELL  ADDEESS. 

AUTHORSHIP. 

The  first  draft  of  most  of  Washington's  state  papers  was 
prepared  by  others.'  The  papers  were  not,  however,  given  out 
until  revised,  well  considered,  digested,  and  rewritten  by 
Washington  himself.  In  1792,  Madisoa,  at  Washington's 
request,  furnished  him  a  draft  of  an  address  to  the  American 
people  on  Washington's  expected  retirement.  Having  been 
prevailed  upon  to  accept  a  second  term,  Washington  did  not 
again  take  up  the  project  of  a  farewell  address  until  1796. 
The  address  was  dated  September  17,.  1796,  and  contains  some 
suggestions  from  Madison 's  former  draft  and  some  from  Ham- 
ilton. ' '  The  copy  from  which  the  final  draft  was  printed  .  .  . 
is  wholly  in  the  handwriting  of  Washington.  It  bears  all  the 
marks  of  a  most  rigid  and  laborious  revision."  Sparks:  Writ- 
ings of  Washington,  Vol.  XII,  appendix. 

THE  OCCASION  AND  THE  CIRCUMSTANCES. 

What  is  excellent  in  literature  is  preserved  because  of  the 
universal  element  of  truth  and  the  evidence  of  great  per- 
sonality in  it.  Even  though  utterly  ignorant  of  the  historical 
facts  back  of  Washington's  Farewell  Address  and  unac- 
quainted with  the  life  of  Washington,  a  reader  could  not  miss 
the  appeal  of  the  great  national  principles  which  the  address 
embodies;  nor  could  he  escape  the  feeling 'that  he  is  in  the 
presence  of  a  great  and  admirable  personality.  A  knowledge 
of  the  facts  and  of  the  life,  however,  would  greatly  deepen 
appreciation.  Eecall  in  connection  with  the  introduction 
of  the  address  (p.  35 — p.  38,  1.  15)  the  great  debt  of 
gratitude  which  the  country  owed  to  Washington  for 
his  services  in  the  Eevolution.  Eecall  the  fact  that  he  was 
probably  the  only  American  who  could  have  gotten  the  new 
government  under  way  amid  the  perplexities  that  arose  after 
the  dismal  failure  of  the  old  Confederation.  Eecall  the  bitter 

135 


136  NOTES 

and  unjust  criticism  of  his  administration  and  of  himself. 
And  then  note  the  spirit  of  good-will,  concern  for  the  public 
welfare,  and  dignified  modesty  where  much  personal  credit 
might  have  been  claimed.  The  first  topic  of  the  discussion 
(p.  38,  1.  16 — p.  41,  1.  27)  enjoins  love  of  country,  pride 
in  the  national  union.  There  were  still  a  great  many  Ameri- 
cans who  remained  in  the  colonial  condition  of  mind,  who 
took  their  politics  from  abroad,  and  thought  politically  as 
Frenchmen  or  as  Englishmen  rather  than  as  Americans.  There 
was  also  considerable  unfriendliness  and  jealousy  between 
North  and  South,  East  and  West, — a  feeling  that  appears 
to  this  day  on  occasion,  usually  showing  itself  in  connection 
with  tariff  bills,  or  discussions  of  the  money  question,  or  the 
bank  question.  The  logic  of  Washington's  first  topic  will  bo 
keenly  felt  by  the  student  who  is  informed  about  the  attitude 
of  different  sections  of  our  country  towards  the  Assumption 
Bill,  the  National  Bank,  the  Excise  Bill,  the  Whiskey  Insur- 
rection, the  Genet  Affair,  the  Jay  Treaty,  the  Spanish  Treaty, 
the  Proclamation  of  Neutrality.  (See  any  of  the  larger  his- 
tories: Hildreth,  volumes  III-V;  Schouler,  volume  I;  Sparks, 
Life  and  Writings  of  Washington,  or  the  volumes  in  the 
American  Statesmen  Series  on  Washington,  Jefferson,  Hamil- 
ton, and  Jay.)  That  the  warning  was  timely  will  be  clear  to 
those  who  recall  the  Virginia  and  Kentucky  Eesolutions  of 
1798,  and  the  rumors  of  secession  in  connection  with  these 
and  with-  the  Hartford  Convention  sixteen  years  later.  Wash- 
ington next  takes  up  more  specifically  (p.  41,  1.  28 — -p.  45,  1.  3) 
the  danger  to  the  Union  arising  from  political  parties  based 
on  geographical  lines,  and  here  refers  by  name  to  the  treaties 
with  Spain  and  England,  thereby  recalling  the  agitation,  based 
on  sectional  lines  and  on  foreign  affiliations,  that  was  aroused 
by  the  proposal  of  these  treaties.  (See  Lodge:  George  Wash- 
ington, vol.  II,  pp.  135,  167,  180,  201,  205.)  He  next  empha- 
sizes the  need  of  an  adequate  central  government  (p.  42,  1.  26) 
and  of  obedience  to  it  (p.  43,  1.  9),  warning  against  combina- 
tions and  factions  (p.  ~43,  1.  19)  and  against  the  spirit  of 
innovation.  (Lodge:  Washington,  II,  266-268.)  The  discus- 
sion of  party  spirit  (p.  45,  1.  4 — p.  46,  1.  23)  recalls  the  fact 
that  Washington  entered -upon  the  Presidency  \wtfi^  the  impos- 
sible expectation  that  parties  could  be  eliminated-  from  govern- 
ment. His  cabinet,  however,  represented*  in  Hamilton  and 
Jefferson  respectively,  the  two  principles  along  which  parties 
speedily  formed.  (Alexander  Johnston:  American  Politics.) 
The  Farewell  Address  is  to  be  read  as  his  final  judgment  that 
parties  are  inevitable,  but  excessive  party  spirit  is  forever  to 
be  repressed  in  a  free  country.  (See  chapter  V,  vol.  II  of 
Lodge 's  biography,  on  ' '  Washington  a^  a  Party  Man. ' ')  It 


NOTES  13? 

is  a  corollary  of  this  that  a  party  when  in  power  should  pro- 
ceed with  moderation  and  not  in  a  spirit  of  vengeance,  and 
should  keep  well  within  constitutional  limitations  (p.  46,  1.  24 
— p.  47,  1.  17).  The  next  section  of  the  address  (p.  47,  1.  18 — 
p.  48,  1.  12)  should  recall  the  words  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787. 
On  public  credit  and  acquiescence  in  revenue  laws  (p.  48,  1.  13 
— p.  49,  1.  4),  the  experience  of  Washington's  administration 
with  Hamilton's  financial  measures  and  with  the  Whiskey 
Insurrection,  plainly  speaks.  (See  Lodge:  Washington,  II, 
122-128).  The  last  topic  of  the  discussion  (p.  49,  1.  5— p.  55, 
1.  7)  deals  with  the  principles  that  should  govern  our  country's 
foreign  policy.  The  inveterate  antipathy  against  England  and 
the  passionate  attachment  for  France  are  alike  condemned 
(p.  49,  1.  22),  though  the  countries  are  not  named.  Pages  50 
and  51  recall  the  Genet  Affair,  with  the  attendant  exhibitions 
of  foolish  popular  affection  for  France  and  equally  foolish 
popular  hatred  for  England;  and  the  disgraceful  intriguing 
of  one  American  faction  with  the  French  minister  to  the  United 
States.  (See  Lodge:  Washington,  II,  chapter  IV.)  The  great 
rule  of  conduct  -(p.  51,  11.  24-28)  in  foreign  affairs,  as  laid 
down  by  Washington,  was  nobly  fulfilled  in  the  diplomacy  of 
the  late  John  Hay,  Secretary  of  State.  In  closing  with  a 
defense  of  the  Proclamation  of  Neutrality,  Washington  reached 
a  true  climax,  a  fact  not  generally  appreciated  today;  for  that 
proclamation  embodied,  in  effect,  all  the  fundamental  principles 
laid  down  in  the  Farewell  Address.  It  meant  national  soli- 
darity against  the  world,  as  opposed  to  a  divided  nation  with 
conflicting  sympathies  running  wildly  in  favor  of  one  foreign 
country  or  another.  The  conclusion  (p.  55,  11.  8-30)  like  the 
introduction,  illustrates  the  highest  use  of  personal  reference. 
But  the  evidence  of  great  and  admirable  personality  is  found 
not  merely  in  the  sentiments  of  the  introduction  and  the  con- 
clusion. It  appears  in  the  magnanimous  and  perfectly  adequate 
treatment  of  the  principles  announced  one  after  another  in 
the  body  of  the  discourse;  in  the  final  character  and  nobility 
of  those  principles;  in  the  repression  of  the  controversial  spirit 
and  the  choice  of  the  highest  plane  of  discussion.  If  the 
address  had  been  written  in  the  spirit  of  controversy,  it  must 
have  remained  on  the  low  plane  of  fact;  it  comes  to  us  not  on 
that  plane,  but  on  the  plane  of  truth.  The  next  speech  in  this 
volume,  Webster  on  the  Character  of  Washington,  contains  an 
exposition  of  the  main  truths  of  the  Farewell  Address. 

QUESTIONS  AND  EXERCISES. 

Make  a  complete  outline  of  the  address,  following  the  form 
of  the  outline  of  Webster's  Bunker  Hill  Monument  Address 
as  given  in  the  introduction  to  this  volume  (p.  24).  Are  the 


138  NOTES 

topics  of  the  address  related  to  one  another  by  the  law  of 
cause  and  effect,  or  by  similarity  and  contrast,  or  by  conti- 
guity? What  passages  or  maxims  would  you  select  for  memo- 
rizing? What  audience  is  Washington  addressing?  Do  you 
find  the  appeal  to  community  of  interest  anywhere  plainly 
expressed?  Does  the  persuasion  arise  from  the  subject,  the 
method  of  treatment,  or  the  speaker?  What  does  Washington 
mean  by  the  distinction  between  political  and  commercial  in  our 
dealings  with  foreign  nations?  Is  there  any  ground  for  think- 
ing that  the  principles  of  the  address  are  in  any  respect 
obsolete?  On  the  immediate  effect  of  the  Farewell  Address, 
see  Lodge's  Washington,  volume  II,  pages  248-251. 


DANIEL  WEBSTEE. 
THE    CHAKACTEK    OF   WASHINGTON. 

THE  SPEAKKK. 

When  this  speech  was  delivered,  in  1832,  Webster  had  been 
United  States  Senator  from  Massachusetts  about  five  years,  and 
had  previously  served  several  terms  in  the  House  of  Kepre- 
sentatives.  He  had  already  enjoyed  five  great  triumphs.  As 
a  lawyer  he  had  won  a  favorable  decision  from  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  in  the  Dartmouth  College  Case; 
he  had  gained  fame  also  by  four  remarkable  orations:  one 
commemorating  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims,  one  at  the  laying 
of  the  corner  stone  of  the  Bunker  Hill  Monument,  one  on 
Adams  and  Jefferson,  and  one  in  reply  to  Hayne.  These  had 
made  Webster  recognized  as  the  leader  of  the  Union  sentiment, 
the  national  idea,  in  the  country,  just  as  Senators  Calhoun  and 
Hayne  were  already  the  recognized  leaders  of  the  confederation 
sentiment  in  the  country,  of  the  idea  that  the  Constitution  is 
merely  a  compact.  Although  he  served  twice  as  Secretary  of 
State  and  was  twice  a  candidate  for  the  presidency,  it  was  in 
the  Senate,  as  the  expounder  of  the  Constitution  on  the  national 
theory,  that  he  performed  his  greatest  service.  His  last  great 
speech,  March  7,  1850,  was  on  the  slavery  question.  He  died 
in  1852  at  the  age  of  seventy.  See  Lodge:  Daniel  Webster 
(American  Statesmen  Series),  especially  chapter  IV;  Curtis: 
Life  of  Webster,  especially  chapter  XI ;  Whipple :  Essays  and 
Reviews,  Vol.  I;  Whipple:  Webster's  Great  Speeches.  • 

KIND  OF  ADDRESS. 

An  address  which  takes  for  its  title  the  name  of  a  great 
man  may  (1)  be  merely  narrative  and  biographical.  This  it  is 


NOTES  139 

likely  to  be,  and  needs  to  be,  if  the  man  whom  it  celebrates 
has  but  recently  passed  away,  or  if,  though  long  celebrated,  his 
life  in  many  of  its  details  has  been  forgotten.  (2)  It  may  be 
judicial,  aiming  at  a  careful  estimate  of  the  worth  of  the  life 
and  of  its  influence.  (3)  It  may  be  appreciative  and 
eulogistic,  dealing  not  with  the  facts  of  the  life  but  with 
the  exemplary  principles  which  guided  the  great  man  in  his 
work.  (4)  It  may  take  the  life  and  the  principles  which  gov- 
erned it  merely  as  a  point  of  departure  for  discussion  of  pres- 
ent day  problems  and  duties  and  of  the  spirit  in  which  they 
should  be  met.  In  these  days  a  Washington's  Birthday  ad- 
dress is  likely  to  be  of  the  type  last  named.  Webster's 
address  is  not  judicial  and  is  only  incidentally  biographical. 
It  is  in  the  main  an  appreciation  of  Washington's  character, 
and  the  appreciation  is  deepest  when  Webster  speaks  of  Wash- 
ington's devotion  to  the  paramount  idea  of  Union,  to  the 
country  as  one  nation  (pp.  69-71)  ;  for  this  was  the  idea  to 
which  Webster  himself  was  supremely  devoted  during  his  whole 
life. 

THE   THEME. 

The  subject  of  this  address  is  Washington;  the  theme, 
everywhere  present,  is  the  spirit  of  American  Nationality  as 
exemplified  in  Washington.  The  sentiment  of  nationalism,  of 
an  inseparable  unity  of  states,  of  a  supreme  union  as  an 
essential  of  true  liberty,  was  still  not  dominant  in  this  country. 
Webster  had  given  it  a  commanding  utterance  two  years  before 
in  the  Eeply  to  Hayne.  Now  he  recurs  to  it.  At  the  opening 
of  the  speech  Cp.  56,  11.  9-11;  p.  57,  11.  8,  21;  p.  58,  11.  1-11) 
it  is  calmly  assumed.  In  the  body  of  the  discourse,  which 
begins  on  page  58,  line  22,  it  is  appealed  to  incidentally  as 
the  key  to  the  proper  appreciation  of  Washington's  character 
(p.  60,  11.  3,  4,  14,  15;  p.  61,  1.  19;  p.  62,  11.  12-17;  p.  63, 
1.  9;  p.  64,  11.  5-15;  p.  65,  11.  12,  16-25  [referring  to  the 
Proclamation  of  Neutrality],  32;  p.  66,  11.  10,  11;  p.  67,  11.  1, 
10,  14,  32;  p.  81,  1.  23),  but  finally  (pp.  69-73)  the  senti- 
ment of  nationalism  becomes  the  main  object  of  the  discus- 
sion. Thus  the  various  topics  of  the  address  (beginning 
respectively  on  pages  58,  60,  61,  62,  63,  64,  65,  66,  67,  68  and 
69)  are  bound  together  by  this  pervading  sentiment. 

QUESTIONS  AND  EXERCISES. 

Make  an  outline  of  the  address.  This  address  abounds  in 
specimens  of  the  climax;  almost  every  one  of  the  longer  para- 
graphs affords  a  specimen.  Note  how  each  climax  is 
approached.  Webster  does  not  often  in  his  speeches  use  ex- 


140  NOTES 

tended  figures,  but  in  this  address  such  figures  are  numerous. 
See  p.  57,  11.  9-12,  11.  26-32.  Also  see  p.  58,  11.  17-21  (perhaps 
the  finest  of  all),  p.  64,  1.  26;  p.  69,  1.  13;  p.  71,  11.  22-30;  p. 
72,,  11.  8-19.  On  p.  64,  11.  20-22,  Webster  adapts  Goldsmith's 
lines  referring  to  Burke: 

c '  Who,  born  for  the  universe,  narrowed  his  mind, 
And  to  party  gave  up  what  was  meant  for  mankind." 

— Goldsmith:    Retaliation,  31. 

Note  the  large  use  of  rhetorical  questions  in  this  address. 
Whence  arises  the  persuasive  element  in  the  address,  from  the 
subject,  from  the  method  or  from  the  speaker? 

THE  BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT. 

THE    OCCASION. 

A  monument  to  General  Warren,  whom  Webster  calls  ' '  the 
first  great  martyr"  of  the  revolution,  had  been  erected  by 
King  Solomon's  Lodge  of  Masons,  Charlestown,  Massachusetts, 
and  had  been  dedicated,  in  1794.  General  Warren  in  his  life- 
time had  been  Grand  Master  of  the  Massachusetts  Masons. 
But  there  came  in  the  course  of  years  a  desire  on  the  part  of 
Congress,  the  Massachusetts  legislature,  and  the  people  gen- 
erally, for  a  grander  memorial  not  only  to  Warren  but  also  to 
the  other  patriots  who  had  fought  at  Bunker  Hill..  An  asso- 
ciation, the  Bunker  Hill  Monument  Association,  was  formed, 
with  Webster  as  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees.  Funds 
were  raised  and  on  June  17,  1825,  the  ceremdnies  of  laying 
the  corner  stone  took  place.  The  procession  included  the  mili- 
tary, followed  by  two  hundred  veterans  of  the  Eevolution,  in 
carriages,  forty  of  the  veterans  being  survivors  of  the  battle 
of  Bunker  Hill.  Then  came  the  members  of  the  Monument 
Association  and  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  followed  by 
Lafayette,  who  had  arranged  his  progress  through  the  country 
so  as  to  be  present  on  the  occasion.  Many  civic  societies  fol- 
lowed and  the  procession  was  attended  with  great  enthusiasm 
and  a  universal  outburst  of  patriotism  during  its  long  prog- 
ress from  the  State  House  to  Breed's  Hill.  Thousands  had 
come  to  hear  the  great  Webster,  whom  the  trustees  of  the 
Association  had  appointed  orator.  For  this  extraordinary 
occasion,  Webster  had  made  preparations  that  were  unusual 
for  him.  He  had  written  out  the  speech  in  full,  whereas  it  was 
his  custom  to  write  out  and  commit  to  memory  only  the  most 
important  and  striking  passages  of  his  speeches.  It  is  known 
that  this  speech  caused  Webster  great  anxiety;  especially,  the 
portion  to  be  addressed  directly  to  the  noble  Lafayette  raised 


NOTES  141 

fine  questions  of  taste,  fitness,  and  proportion,  that  were  not 
so  urgent  in  the  case  of  the  direct  address  to  the  ^Revolutionary 
soldiers.  "He  said,"  says  Ticknor,  "that  he  felt  as  if  he 
knew  how  to  talk  to  such  men,  for  that  his  father,  and 
many  of  his  father's  friends  whom  he  had  known,  had  been 
among  them." 

QUALITIES   OF   THE   ADDRESS. 

Five  years  before  the  date  of  this  address  Webster  had 
given  at  Plymouth  the  oration  celebrating  the  ' '  First  Settle- 
ment of  New  England, ' '  which  Ticknor  described  as  "a 
series  of  eloquent  fragments."  In  that  oration  Webster  had 
touched  upon  the  power  of  local  association,  the  historical 
event,  the  character  of  the  Pilgrims,  the  growth  and  future  of 
the  country,  on  liberty,  on  the  national  view  of  the  constitu- 
tion, on  education  and  on  slavery.  The  point  of  Tickuor's 
description  is  that  these  topics  were  not  so  closely  knit  to- 
gether as  to  make  an  organized  unity.  No  such  criticism 
could  be  passed  on  the  Monument  speech.  Although  the  range 
of  topics  is  even  greater  than  in  the  Plymouth  Oration,  and 
consequently  the  problem  of  relating  them  closely  to  one 
another  is  more  difficult,  unity  of  organization  is  effected  with 
apparent  ease.  (See  outline  and  study  of  the  principles 
of  arrangement,  Introduction,  pp.  24-28.)  Many  of  the 
ideas  are  the  same  in  the  two  orations;  for  instance  the  idea 
of  the  power  of  local  association  (p.  74,  1.  9.  See  also  p.  56, 
1.  23),  of  the  growth  of  mankind  in  education  (p.  89)  and 
in  government  (pp.  93-94).  Besides  unity  and  wide  range 
of  topics,  the  Monument  Address  shows  ease  of  transition;  its 
continuity  is  unbroken.  In  making  transitions  Webster  uses 
the  "echo"  frequently, — some  word  or  sentiment  towards  the 
end  of  one  paragraph  being  repeated  at  the  beginning  of  the 
next  (e.  g.  "deep  impression,"  p.  74,  1.  7,  is  echoed  in  "af- 
fect" and  "emotions,"  11.  10,  11).  This  is  a  special  form  of 
the  arrangement  by  contiguity  (see  p.  24).  Note  also  the  easy 
approach  to  the  address  to  the  survivors  (p.  80,  1.  19),  to 
the  veterans  (p.  82,  1.  20)  and  to  Lafayette  (p.  87,  1.  26). 
Another  quality  conspicuous  in  all  of  Webster's  orations  is 
massiveness;  there  is  a  sufficient  bulk  of  material  gathered 
about  each  point  to  give  it  due  importance  and  dignity;  a 
sense  of  satisfaction  is  experienced  as  the  discussion  of  each 
topic  is  concluded.  The  language  is  plain  and  direct;  almost 
devoid  of  subtlety  and  fancy  (the  one  fanciful  allusion  in  this 
speech  is  to  the  ships  about  the  Charlestown  navy  yard,  p.  81, 
1.  11).  Yet  there  is  imagination  (e.  g.  p.  75,  11.  8-23).  There 
is  picturesqueness  (e.  g.  p.  79).  There  is  force.  These  are 
higher  qualities,  independent  of  vocabulary  and  of  sentence- 


142  NOTES 

length;  they  are  qualities  that  arise  from  the  vision  or  insight 
of  the  speaker  into  the  deeper  significance  of  the  occasion 
(cf.  pp.  75,  78,  81,  88,  89,  91,  93).  The  sentences  are  short 
and  .clear;  they  are  void  of  monotony  on  account  of  the  full- 
ness and  variety  of  thought  which  they  carry.  It  is  Webster's 
simplicity  of  expression,  combined  with  the  amplitude  of  his 
thought  and  the  dignity  of  his  emotion,  that  explains  the 
power  of  his  speech.  It  was  this  that  led  those  who  listened 
to  him  to  speak  of  his  discourse  as  having  "magnanimity," 
or  "high  seriousness,"  or  "largeness,"  or  "sweep,"  or  "ele- 
vation," or  "tone."  These  words  point  to  characteristics 
of  the  speaker's  personality  while,  at  the  same  time,  they  de- 
scribe his  speech;  thus  they  indicate  his  sincerity  and  perfect 
competence  for  the  occasion.  (Other  points  are  touched  upon 
in  the  Introduction,  pp.  24-31).  Webster's  speeches  are  full 
of  political  wisdom  and  the  Monument  Address  is  no  excep- 
tion. (See  especially  pp.  89,  92.)  Our  attention  is  held  by 
his  thoughts,  rather  than  by  the  way  in  which  they  are 
clothed.  He  makes  no  effort  for  small  adornment;  quotations 
and  literary  allusions  are  few.  That  on  p.  81,  1.  34,  is  from 
Milton's  Paradise  Lost,  V,  310-311;  that  on  p.  85,  1.  29,  is 
from  Virgil's  JEneid,  VI,  726  ("infused  through  all  parts, 
intelligence  moves  the  whole  mass  and  permeates  the  great 
body");  that  on  p.  89,  1.  4  is  from  Horace's  Carmina,  I.  2, 
45  ("May  you  return  late  to  heaven;  may  you  live  long!")  ; 
that  on  p.  94,  1.  18  is  from  Homer's  Iliad,  XVIII;  books  that 
Webster  read  in  the  academy  and  in  college  and  that  continued 
to  be  his  favorites  through  life.  From  the  nature  of  the  case, 
historical  references  are  numerous.  The  mafters  with  which 
they  deal,  colonial  history,  the  French  Eevolution,  the  Greek 
Eevolution,  South  American  States,  are  treated  at  length  in  the 
larger  histories,  Fiske,  Bancroft,  Von  -Hoist,  Lalor  's  Cyclopedia 
of  United  States  History,  or  may  be  traced  by  use  of  the  index 
volume  of  the  American  Statesmen  Series.  On  page  95,  11.  20- 
26  the  reference  is  to  the  events  that  followed  the  Greek 
War  against  Turkey,  for  independence  (1821-1829).  In  1830, 
the  great  powers  declared  Greece  an  independent  kingdom, 
Turkey  agreeing;  but  they  were  unable  to  provide  a  king  for 
Greece  until  1832.  Meanwhile  Greece  was  ruled  by  a  dictator 
and  conditions  were  so  bad  as  to  justify  the  alternatives 
mentioned,  11.  5-9.  As  would  be  expected,  melody  and  cadence 
on  the  small  scale  of  single  sentences,  are  not  prominent  char- 
acteristics of  Webster,  but  in  the  larger  divisions  of  his  dis- 
course, rhythm  and  harmony  are  prominent.  They  arise  from 
the  large  sweep  of  his  thought  and  emotion,  and  are  best 
noticed  as  he  approaches  and  reaches  his  climaxes  (pp.  78,  83, 
97  and  99). 


NOTES  143 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

ADDRESS  AT  INDEPENDENCE  HALL. 

Mr.  Lincoln  had  spoken  his  brief  but  touching  farewell  to 
his  Springfield  neighbors,  February  11,  1861,  and  had  started 
for  Washington.  After  stopping  at  various  points  to  make 
speeches,  he  had  reached  Philadelphia,  where  he  was  to  assist 
at  a  flag-raising.  The  secession  of  Southern  states,  the  de- 
moralization of  the  Buchanan  Administration  at  Washington, 
the  timid  attitude  of  the  North,  and  of  Congress,  were  post- 
election developments.  Through  these,  the  issues  on  which 
Lincoln  had  won  the  election  had  suddenly  become  obsolete. 
The  issue  was  now  no  longer  anti-slavery,  but  the  Union  and 
how  to  save  it.  The  Independence  Hall  speech  recognizes  this 
great  change  of  issues  (p.  100,  11.  5-7,  11.  19-21;  p.  101,  11. 
3-10),  and  the  Union  is  Lincoln's  theme  from  this  time  on. 
The  place  suggested  the  central  idea,  "The  Declaration  of 
Independence  furnishes  the  principle  on  which  the  Union  must 
be  saved."  While  hundreds  of  influential  but  timid  Northern- 
ers were,  at  the  moment,  ready  to  yield  any  and  all  principles 
in  order  to  pacify  the  South,  here  was  a  strong  declaration 
from  the  President-elect,  that  there  would  be  no  war  unless 
it  was  forced  upon  the  government.  The  effect  of  this  address 
was  to  hearten  the  North  and  to  impress  the  South  with  the 
fact  that  Lincoln  was  in  no  sense  doubtful  as  to  the  duty 
before  him.  In  connection  with  the  test  sentence  of  the  address 
it  should  be  remembered  that  there  were  credible  rumors  of  a 
plot  to  assassinate  Lincoln  as  he  should  pass  through  Baltimore 
on  the  next  day  or  two.  The  plot,  if  it  existed,  was  frustrated 
by  making  the  journey  earlier  than  the  time  announced,  and 
Lincoln  entered  Washington  February  23d,  unharmed. 

THE  FIEST  INAUGUEAL. 

This,  the  most  momentous  utterance  in  our  history,  left  no 
doubt  that  the  real  issue  was  now  union  or  disunion,  and  of 
the  firm  course  President  Lincoln  would  take.  "The  union 
of  these  states  is  perpetual " ;  "  No  state  upon  its  own  mere 
motion  can  lawfully  get  out  of  the  Union";  "I  shall  take 
care  that  the  laws  of  the  Union  be  faithfully  executed  in  all 
the  states";  "The  central  idea  of  secession  is  the  essence  of 
anarchy";  "The  power  confided  in  me  will  be  used  to  hold, 
occupy,  and  possess  the  property  and  places  belonging  to  the 
government,  and  to  collect  the  duties  and  imposts";  "You 
have  no  oath  registered  in  heaven  to  destroy  the  government, 


144  NOTES 

while  I  shall  have  the  most  solemn  one  to  'preserve,  protect 
and  defend'  ifc," — these  direct,  simple,  firm,  and  earnest  sen- 
tences, impossible  to  misunderstand,  meant  that  the  seceded 
states  must  either  abandon  their  project  or  make  war  to  main- 
tain it.  By  the  most  persuasive  pleas  and  reasonings  they  were 
solicited  to  abandon  their  project.  They  are  first  assured 
(pp.  102,  103)  that  Republican  success  does  not  mean  danger 
to  slavery  in  the  Southern  states;  that  the  President  deems 
the  enactment  of  a  Fugitive  Slave  Law  a  constitutional  obliga 
tion  binding  on  Congress  (pp.  103,  104).  Indeed  he  makes 
suggestions  for  improving  the  existing  law  (p.  104,  11.  18-26). 
Then  follow  the  open  acknowledgment  that  an  attempt  is  being 
made  to  disrupt  the  Union  (p.  105)  and  the  argument  that 
the  Union  is  perpetual  and  secession  ordinances  void  (p.  106) ; 
the  duty  and  intentions  of  the  President  (pp.  106,  107)  ;  the 
plea  to  those  who  love  the  Union  (pp.  107,  108) ;  the  lack  of 
real  grievances  against  the  government  (p.  108) ;  the  reduction 
of  secession  to  a  logical  absurdity  (p.  109) ;  the  true  attitude 
of  the  citizen  towards  the  Supreme  Court  (p.  110)  ;  the  folly 
of  secession  (pp.  110,  111);  Lincoln's  willingness  that  the 
Constitution  should  be  amended  (pp.  Ill,  112) ;  the  appeal  to 
faith  in  the  triumph  of  the  right  (p.  112)  ;  the  appeal  to  old 
friendship  and  to  patriotism  (pp.  113,  114).  In  an  earlier  draft 
of  the  inaugural  the  word  nothing  was  used  for  the  word  void 
(p.  106,  1.  16),  the  word  treasonable  instead  of  the  word 
revolutionary  (p.  106,  1.  18).  The  clauses  in  view  of  the  Con- 
stitution and  the  laws  (p.  106,  1.  19)  and  as  the  Constitution 
itself  expressly  enjoins  upon  me  (p.  106,  1.  21)  were  omitted; 
tangible  way  was  used  for  authoritative  manner  (p.  106,  1.  27) 
and  the  last  line  of  the  paragraph  (p.  106,  1.  30)  read,  that 
it  will  have  its  own  and  defend  itself.  (The  student  will  find 
it  instructive  to  consider  what  difference  in  implication  there 
is  between  the  word  rejected  and  the  word  adopted  in  each 
case  and  to  account  for  the  alterations  adopted  by  Lincoln.) 
The  original  draft  of  the  final  paragraphs  (p.  113)  read  as 
follows:  "My  dissatisfied  fellow-countrymen;  you  cannot 
forbear  the  assault  upon  it;  I  cannot  shrink  from  the  defense 
of  it.  With  you,  and  not  with  me,  is  the  solemn  question  of 
Shall  it  be  peace  or  a  iword?"  To  this  Mr.  Seward  objected 
on  the  ground  that  "something  besides  or  in  addition  to  argu- 
ment is  needful — to  meet  and  remove  prejudice  and  passion 
in  the  South  and  despondency  and  fear  in  the  East.  Some 
words  of  affection — some  of  calm  and  cheerful  confidence." 
Mr.  Seward  proposed  the  following:  "I  close.  We  are  not, 
we  must  not  be,  aliens  or  enemies,  but  fellow-countrymen  and 
brethren.  Although  passion  has  strained  our  bonds  of  affec- 
tion too  hardly,  they  must  not,  I  am  sure  they  will  not,  be 


NOTES  145 

broken.  The  mystic  chords  which,  proceeding  from  so  many 
battle-fields  and  so  many  patriot  graves,  pass  through  all  the 
hearts  and  all  the  hearths  in  this  broad  continent  of  ours, 
will  yet  again  harmonize  in  their  ancient  music  when  breathed 
upon  by  the  guardian  angel  of  the  nation."  Compare  these 
versions  with  the  text  finally  adopted  by  Mr.  Lincoln  and 
account  for  the  alterations.  Lincoln's  fine  precision  in  the  use 
of  words,  his  sense  for  choosing  words  with  the  association 
desired,  his  gift  for  direct  statement,  his  ability  to  make  every 
sentence  say  and  imply  no  more  and  no  less  than  he  meant  it 
to  say  and  imply,  can  be  illustrated  on  every  page  of  this 
inaugural.  He  attributed  his  power  over  language  to  the  fact 
that  he  never  was  satisfied  with  an  idea  until  he  had  put  it  in 
language  ' '  plain  enough  for  any  boy  to  comprehend. ' '  The 
tone  is  firm  but  kindly,  the  spirit  breathes  native  greatness  and 
honesty  of  intention. 

THE  LETTER  TO  GEEELEY. 

In  spite  of  the  clear  statement  of  the  First  Inaugural  that 
the  supreme  issue  was  not  now  anti-slavery  but  the  saving  of 
the  Union',  many  of  Lincoln's  supporters  continued  to  think  of 
the  war  only  in  its  bearings  on  slavery.  The  radicals  were 
zealous  to  destroy  slavery  at  once;  the  conservatives  were 
willing  to  preserve  it.  Each  faction  was  eager  to  criticise 
every  act  of  the  administration  with  sole  reference  to  the 
effect  on  slavery.  Lincoln  was  on  record  as  saying  that  he 
believed  the  Union  could  not  permanently  endure  half-slave 
and  half-free.  He  was  known  to  hate  human  slavery.  It 
might  be  inferred  that  when  convinced  of  the  necessity  of 
emancipation  as  a  war  measure,  solely  in  order  to  save  the 
Union,  he  would  proclaim  freedom  to  the  slave.  He  was 
meditating  whether  the  hour  had  not  arrived  and  had  dis-. 
cussed  the  subject  with  his  Cabinet  July  22,  1862.  But  he 
had  laid  the  proclamation  aside  awaiting  Union  victories. 
These  did  not  come;  and  the  radicals  were  more  bitter  in 
their  criticism  of  his  "inaction"  than  ever.  August  20,  1862, 
the  New  York  Tribune,  Greeley's  paper,  printed  an  open 
letter  to  Abraham  Lincoln  signed  by  Horace  Greeley  charging 
the  President  with  not  executing  the  laws  energetically,  with 
not  carrying  forward  emancipation ;  with  not  taking  counsel 
with  radicals  instead  of  conservatives,  with  acting  timidly, 
with  deferring  to  Southern  sentiment,  and  with  much  more 
to  the  same  purport.  The  purpose  of  Lincoln 's  reply  was  to 
restrain  the  impatience  of  those  enthusiasts  who  felt  as 
Greeley  wrote,  and  to  turn  Greeley's  letter  to  account  in  mak- 
ing public  sentiment  ready  for  emancipation.  Lincoln  aimed 


146  NOTES 

to  go  no  faster  in  the  direction  of  emancipation  than  he  felt 
sure  public  opinion  would  warrant.  There  was  for  Lincoln 
every  provocation  to  anger  at  the  injustice  of  Greeley's  letter; 
every  incitement  to  reveal  in  detail  his  own  plan  for  emanci- 
pa,tion,  and  to  make  a  promise  on  the  subject.  But  Lincoln 
refused  to  yield  to  impulses  of  that  kind.  With  rare  mag- 
nanimity he  overlooked  the  personal  injustice,  with  rare  dig- 
nity he  denied  himself  the  justification  that  a  word  might 
have  afforded,  refused  to  enter  a  controversy,  refused  to  dis- 
comfit his  accuser,  and  prepared  the  public  mind  for  the 
proclamation  which  was  published  September  23d. 

THE  SPEECH  AT  GETTYSBUEG. 

This  brief  speech  should  be  memorized  and  made  a  perma- 
nent possession.  Of  the  same  quality  in  tone,  spirit,  and  perfect 
expression,  is  the  following  letter  to  Mrs.  Bixby,  of  Boston: 

Dear  Madam: — I  have  been  shown  in  the  files  of  the  War 
Department  a  statement  of  the  adjutant  general  of  Massachu- 
setts, that  you  are  the  mother  of  five  sons  who  have  died 
gloriously  on  the  field  of  battle.  I  feel  how  weak  and  fruitless 
must  be  any  words  of  mine  which  should  attempt 'to  beguile 
you  from  the  grief  of  a  loss  so  overwhelming.  But  I  cannot 
refrain  from  tendering  to  you  the  consolation  that  may  be 
found  in  the  thanks  of  the  republic  they  died  to  save.  I  pray 
that  our  Heavenly  Father  may  assuage  the  anguish  of  your 
bereavement,  and  leave  you  only  the  cherished  memory  of  the 
loved  and  lost,  and  the  solemn  pride  that  must  be  yours  to 
have  laid  so  costly  a  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  freedom. 
Very  respectfully  yours, 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

THE  SECOND  INAUGUEAL. 

By  the  time  of  the  second  inaugural  the  military  success  of 
the  Federal  arms  was  assured,  the  Union  was  probably  saved, 
and  slavery  was  being  destroyed  by  the  victorious  advance  of 
the  Union  armies.  For  those  now  defeated,  who  had  brought 
on  the  war,  the  great  heart  of  Lincoln  contained  nothing  but 
forgiveness.  His  fear  was  that  the  spirit  of  revenge  which 
had  begun  to  appear  in  Congress  would  dictate  too  harsh 
terms  to  the  conquered  and  would  perpetuate  hatred  and  make 
real  reconciliation  impossible  between  the  two  sections  of  the 
country.  The  second  inaugural  address  is  the  most  magnani- 
mous of  American  state  papers.  Its  final  sentence  might 
stand  as  the  epitaph  of  its  writer.  ' '  This  speech, ' '  says 
Morse,  "has  taken  its  place  among  the  most  famous  of  all  the 


NOTES  147 

written  or  spoken  compositions  in  the  English  language.  In 
parts  it  has  often  been  compared  with  the  lofty  portions  of 
the  Old  Testament.  Mr.  Lincoln 's  own  contemporaneous 
criticism  is  interesting.  "I  expect  it,"  he  said,  "to  wear  as 
well  as,  perhaps  better  than,  anything  I  have  produced;  but 
I  believe  it  is  not  immediately  popular.  Men  are  not  flattered 
by  being  shown  that  there  has  beeu  a  difference  of  purpose 
between  the  Almighty  and  them.  To  deny  it,  however,  in 
this  case,  is  to  deny  tha't  there  is  a  God  governing  the  world. 
It  is  the  truth  which  I  thought  needed  to  be  told;  and  as 
whatever  of  humiliation  there  is  in  it  falls  most  directly  on 
myself,  I  thought  others  might  afford  for  me  to  tell  it. ' ' 
The  address  puts  on  the  war  an  interpretation  (p.  119,  1.  16 — 
p.  120,  1.  15)  at  once  the  highest,  the  profoundest,  andi  the 
most  magnanimous,  rising  above  all  controversies  as  to  the 
relative  blame  of  the  North  and  the  South  for  bringing  on  the 
scourge;  it  is  divine  retribution  upon  the  whole  nation  for 
permitting  a  great  wrong  to  continue  for  so  many  years.  In 
this  interpretation  Lincoln  anticipated  the  best  judgment  which 
history  has  pronounced  in  explanation  of*  this  and  other  sim- 
ilar conflicts  of  the  world,  notably  the  French  Kevolution. 
The  deeply  religious  tone,  the  awe  and  the  mystery  of  it, 
indicate  the  humble  spirit  in  which  Lincoln  would  have  the 
nation  proceed  to  the  work  of  restoration  and  reconciliation 
that  remained  to  be  accomplished.  In  connection  with  p.  119, 
1.  19  read  Genesis  3:19;  with  1.  20,  Matthew  7:1;  with  11. 
23-25,  Matthew  18:7;  with  p.  120,  1.  7,  Psalm  19:9;  with  1.  11, 
Isaiah  61:1  and  Isaiah  30:26;  with  1.  12,  Matthew  20:12;  with 
1.  13,  Psalm  146:9. 

LAST  PUBLIC  ADDEESS. 

For  the  various  theories  of  reconstruction, — the  restoration 
or  presidential  theory,  conquered  territory  theory,  state  suicide 
theory,  etc.,  see  Lalor's  Cyclopedia  of  Political  Science  and 
United  States  History,  article  on  Eeconstruction.  Eeconstruc- 
tion  brought  greater  embarrassments  than  secession  had 
brought,  and  aroused  passions  quite  as  fierce.  The  President 
was  attacked  for  exercising  powers  that  were  claimed  for 
Congress  alone  and  for  offering  terms  too  lenient  to  the 
Southern  States.  The  spirit  of  revenge,  which  Lincoln  had 
feared,  gained  headway  in  Congress.  The  speech  was  delivered 
to  a  multitude  that  had  gathered  in  the  evening  of  April  11, 
before  the  White  House,  to  express  enthusiasm  over  the  fall 
of  Petersburg  and  Eichmond  and  the  surrender  of  Lee.  It 
begins  by  generously  attributing  to  Grant  and  the  army  all 
of  the  honor  of  the  victory  and  then  calmly,  without  the  slight- 


148  NOTES 

est  hint  of  irritation  at  unjust  criticism,  appeals  by  argument 
and  explanation  for  support  of  the  humane  and  liberal  policy 
in  Louisiana,  which  was  already  bitterly  assailed  by  politicians 
of  his  own  party.  Reasonableness,  benignity,  honesty  of  inten- 
tion, greatness  of  heart,  characterize  the  utterance.  But  so  do 
practical  sagacity,  homely  wisdom,  and  simplicity.  Lincoln 
touched  no  difficult  subject  in  his  life  without  simplifying  it 
by  his  statement.  He  brushes  aside  the  fine  spun  theories  of 
reconstruction  with  which  men  had  befogged  their  minds  and 
calls  attention  to  the  one  purpose  for  which  all  should  work 
(p.  124,  11.  6-21).  Two  weeks  after  this  speech  Lincoln  was 
assassinated  by  John  Wilkes  Booth,  who,  in  the  words  of 
Morse,  "slew  the  only  sincere  and  powerful  friend  whom  the 
Southerners  had  among  their  conquerors. ' ' 

THE  LONDON  SPECTATOR  ON  LINCOLN. 

Of  the  countless  tributes  to  the  greatness  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  none  are  more  instructive  to  the  American  than  those 
coming  from  foreign  sources.  That  quoted  in  the  text  is 
especially  noteworthy  for  its  analysis  of  Lincoln's  literary 
power,  as  well  as  for  its  true  insight  into  his  character.  Cite 
from  the  speeches  of  Lincoln  in  this  volume  passages  that 
verify  the  points  made  by  the  London  Spectator.  Cite  an 
example  of  persuasion  arising  from  the  order  in  which  Lincoln 
arranges  the  topics  of  his  discourse.  Cite  from  Lincoln  a  case 
of  refutation;  a  case  of  persuasion  arising  from  logic  alone; 
several  memorable  maxims  of  government. 


